spoken in ver. 27, 28. telling them, though the world contemned them as vile, foolish, and weak, yet " of God Christ is made " unto them wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemp- " tion."
In which words we have an enumeration of the chief privileges of believers, and an account of the method whereby they come to be invested with them *.
First, Their privileges are enumerated, namely, wisdom, righte- ousness, sanctification, and redemption, mercies of inestimable value in themselves, and such as respect a fourfold misery lying upon sin- ful man, viz. ignorance, guilt, pollution, and the whole train of miserable consequences and effects, let in upon the nature of men, yea, the best and holiest of men, by sin.
Lapsed man is not only deep in misery, but grossly ignorant, both that he is so, mid how to recover himself from it : Sin hath left him at once senseless of his state, and at a perfect loss about the true remedy.
To cure this, Christ is made to him wisdom, not only by im- provement of those treasures of wisdom that are in himself, for the benefit of such souls as are united to him, as an head, consulting the good of his own members ; but also, by imparting his wisdom to them by the Spirit of illumination, whereby they come to dis- cern both their sin and danger ; as also the true way of their reco- very from both, through the application of Christ to their souls by faith.
But alas ! simple illumination doth but increase our burden, and exasperate our misery as long as sin in the guilt of it is either imputed to our persons unto condemnation, or reflected by our consciences in a way of accusation.
With design therefore to remedy and heal this sore evil, Christ is made of God unto us righteousness, complete and perfect righte- ousness, whereby our obligation to punishment is dissolved, and thereby a solid foundation for a well-settled peace of conscience firmly established.
Yea, but although the removing of guilt from our persons and consciences be an inestimable mercy, yet alone it cannot make us completely happy : For though a man should never be damned for sin, yet what is it less than hell upon earth, to be under the domi- nion and pollution of every base lust ? It is misery enough to be daily defiled by sin, though a man should never be damned for it.
To complete therefore the happiness of the redeemed ; Christ is
* He ascribes a fourfold commendation of Christ, which comprehends all his virtue, and all the good we receive from him. Calvin on the place,
SERM. I. THE METHOD OF GRACE. 17
not only made of God unto them wisdom and righteousness , the one curing our ignorance, the other our guilt ; but he is made sanctifi- cation also, to relieve us against the dominion and pollutions of our corruptions : " He comes both by water and by blood, not by " blood only, but by water also," 1 John v. 6. purging as well as pardoning: How complete and perfect a cure is Christ !
But yet something is required beyond all this to make our hap- piness perfect and entire wanting nothing ; and that is the removal of those doleful effects and consequences of sin, which (notwithstand- ing all the fore-mentioned privileges and mercies) still lie upon the souls and bodies of illuminated, justified, and sanctified persons. For even with the best and holiest of men, what swarms of vanity, loads of deadness, and fits of unbelief, do daily appear in, and op- press their souls ! to the imbittering of all the comforts of life to them ? And how many diseases, deformities, and pains oppress their bodies, which daily moulder away by them, till they fall into the grave by death, even as the bodies of other men do, who never received such privileges from Christ as they do ? For if " Christ " be in us (as the apostle speaks, Rom. viii. 10.) the body " is dead, because of sin :" Sanctification exempts us not from mor- tality.
But from all these, and whatsoever else, the fruits and conse- quences of sin, Christ is redemption to his people, also: This seals up the sum of mercies : This so completes the happiness of the saints, that it leaves nothing to desire.
These four, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption, take in all that is necessary or desirable, to make a soul truly and perfectly blessed.
Secondly, We have here the method and way, by which the elect come to be invested with these excellent privileges : the ac- count whereof, the apostle gives us in these words, " Who of " God is made unto us," in which expression, four things are re- markable.
First, That Christ and his benefits go inseparably and undividedly together : it is Christ himself who is made all this unto us : we can have no saving benefit separate and apart from the person of Christ : many would willingly receive his privileges, who will not receive his person; but it cannot be; if we will have one, we must take the other too: Yea, we must accept his person first, and then his benefits : as it is in the marriage covenant, so it is here.
Secondly, That Christ with his benefits must be personally and particularly applied to us, before we can receive any actual, saving privilege by him ; he must be [made unto us] i. e. particularly ap- plied to us ; as a sum of money becomes, or is made the ransom
18 THE METHOD OF GRACE. SERM. T.
and liberty of a captive, when it is not only promised, but paid down in his name, and legally applied for that use and end. When Christ died, the ransom was prepared, the sum laid down ; but vet the elect continue still in sin and misery, notwithstanding, till by effectual calling it be actually applied to their persons, and then they are made free, Rom. v. 10, 11. reconciled by Christ's death, by whom " we have now received the atonement."
Thirdly, That this application of Christ is the work of God, and not of man : " Of God he is made unto us :" The same hand that prepared it, must also apply it, or else we perish, notwithstanding all that the Father hath done in contriving, and appointing, and all that the Son hath done in executing, and accomplishing the design thus far. And this actual application is the work of the Spirit, by a singular appropriation.
Fourthly) and lastly, This expression imports the suitableness of Christ, to the necessities of sinners ; what they want, he is made to them ; and indeed, as money answers all things, and is convertible into meat, drink, raiment, physic, or what else our bodily ne- cessities do require ; so Christ is virtually, and eminently all that the necessities of our souls require; bread to the hungry, and clothing to the naked soul. In a word, God prepared and furnish- ed him on purpose to answer all our wants, which fully suits the apostle's sense, when he saith, " Who of God is made unto us " wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption." The sum of all is,
Doct. That the Lord Jesus Christ, with all his precious benefits, becomes ours, by God's special and effectual application.