Reconciliation of the elect to God, is therefore another of those beautiful births which Christ travailed for. So you find it ex- pressly, Rom. v. 10. " If when we were enemies, we were re- " conciled to God by the death of his Son." This [if] is not a word of doubting, but argumentation. The apostle supposes it is a known truth, or principle yielded by all Christians, that the death of Christ was to reconcile the elect to God. And again he affirms it with like clearness, Col. i. 20. " And having made " peace by the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things." And that this was a main and principal end designed both by the Father and Son in the humiliation of Christ, is plain from 2 Cor. v. 18, 19- " God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself." God filled the humanity with grace and authority. The Spirit of God was in him to qualify him. The authority of God was in him by commission, to make all he did valid. The grace and love of God to mankind was in him, and one of the principal effects in which it was manifested, was this design upon which he came, viz. to reconcile the world to God. Upon which ground Christ is called the " propitiation for our sins," 1 John ii. 2. " * Now reconciliation or atonement is nothing else but the making " up of the ancient friendship betwixt God and men which sin " had dissolved, and so to reduce these enemies into a state of " concord, and sweet agreement." And the means by which this blessed design was effectually compassed, Mas by the death of Christ, which made complete satisfaction to God, for the wrong he had done him. There was a breach made by sin betwixt God
* Reconcilifire nihil alhtd est quam amicitiam offensione aliqua gravi dirempta?nresaciret et sic ini/nicos inpristinam cvncordiam reducere, Daven. in Col. i. 20.
SERM. XXXVIII. THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 475
and angels, but that breach is never to be repaired or made up ; since, as Christ took not on him their nature, so he never intended to be a mediator of reconciliation betwixt God and them. That will be an eternal breach. But that which Christ designed, as the end of his death, was to reconcile God and man. Not the whole species, but a certain number, whose names were given to Christ. Here I must briefly open, 1. How Christ's death reconciles. 2. Why this reconciliation is brought about by his death, rather than any other way. 3. What are the articles according to which it is made. And 4. What manner of reconciliation this is.
First, How Christ reconciles God and man by Ids death. And it must needs be by the satisfaction his death made to the justice of God for our sins. And so, reparation being made, the enmity ceases. Hence it is said, Isa. liii. 5. "the chastisement of our " peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed." That is (as our English Annotators well explain it) he was chastised to procure our peace, by removal of our sins, that set God and us asunder, the guilt thereof being discharged with the price of his blood.
Now this reconciliation is made and continued betwixt God and us, three ways ; namely, by the oblation of Christ, which was the price that procured it, and so we were virtually or meritoriously re- conciled. By the application of Christ and his benefits to us through faith, and so we are actually reconciled. And by the virtual con- tinuation of the sacrifice of Christ in heaven, by his potent and eter- nal intercession, and so our state of reconciliation is confirmed, and all future breaches prevented. But all depends, as you see, upon the death of Christ. For had not Christ died, his death could never be applied to us, nor pleaded in heaven for us. How the death of Christ meritoriously procures our reconciliation, is evi- dent from that fore-cited scripture, Rom. v. 10. " When we were " enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son," i. e. Christ's death did meritoriously or virtually reconcile us to> God, who, as to our state, were enemies long after that reconcili- ation was made. That the application of Christ to us by faith, makes that virtual reconciliation to become actual, is plain enough from Eph. ii. 16, 17. "And that he might reconcile both unto " God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. u And came and preached peace to you that were afar off, and to " them that were nigh. Now therefore (as it is added, verse 19.) " Ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens " with the saints," &c. And that this state of friendship is still continued by Christ's intercession within the vail, so that there can be no breaches made upon the state of our peace, notwithstanding all the daily provocations we give God by our sins, is the comforta-
476 THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. SFItM. XXXVI IT,
ble truth which the apostle plainly asserts, after he had given a ne- cessary caution to prevent the abuse of it, in 1 John ii. 1, 2. " My " little children, these things I write unto you that ye sin not ; " and if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Je- " sus Christ the righteous ; and he is the propitiation," &c. Thus Christ reconciles us to God by his death.
Secondly, And if you enquire why this reconciliation was made by the death of Christ, rather than any other way, satisfaction is at hand, in these two answers.
First, That we can imagine no other way by which it could be compassed. And,
Secondly, If God could have reconciled us as much by another way, yet he could not have obliged us so much by doing it in ano- ther way, as he hath by doing it this way. Surely, none but he that was God manifested in our flesh could offer a sacrifice of suffi- cient value to make God amends for the wrong done him by one sin, much less for all the sins of the elect. And how God should (especially after a peremptory threatening of death for sin) re-admit us into favour without full satisfaction, cannot be imagined. He is indeed inclined to acts of mercy, but none must suppose him to exercise one attribute in prejudice to another. That his justice must be eclipsed, whilst his mercy shines. But allow that Infinite Wisdom could have found out another means of reconciling us as much, can you imagine, that in any other way he could have obliged us as much, as he hath done by reconciling us to himself by the death of his own Son ? It cannot be thought possible. This therefore was the most effectual, just, honourable, and obliging way to make up the peace betwixt him and us.
Thirdly, This reconciliation, purchased by the blood of Christ, is offered unto men by the gospel, upon certain articles and condi- tions ; upon the performance whereof it actually becomes theirs ; and without which, notwithstanding all that Christ hath done and suffered, the breach still continues betwixt them and God. And let no man think this a derogation from the freeness and riches of grace, for these things serve singularly to illustrate and commend the grace of God to sinners.