because I am without sin, but because my sins are forgiven ; I will not glory because I have profited, or because any hath profited me, but because Christ is an advocate with the Father for me, but because the blood of Christ is shed for me.'i Certainly the popish doctrine of man's own satisfaction in part for his sins is most derogatory to the blood, and to the plenary and complete satisfaction, of Jesus Christ. But,
[3.] Thirdly, Observe that nothing heloiu the obedience and suffer- ings of Christ, our mediator, could satisfy divine justice : Heb. x. 5, ' But a body hast thou prepared me/ The Hebrew text, Ps. xl. 7, saith, ' Thou hast bored through mine ears ;' but the apostle follows the Greek translation, seeing the same sense is contained in both. Christ having declared what his Father delighteth not in, he further sheweth affirmatively what it was wherein he rested well pleased, in these words, ' But a body hast thou prepared me.' In this phrase, ' A body hast thou prepared me,' Christ is brought in, speaking to his Father. By body is meant the human nature of Christ. Body is synecdochically put for the whole human nature, consisting of body and soul ; the body was the visible part of Christ's human nature. A body is fit for a sacrifice, fit to be slain, fit to have blood shed out of it, fit to be offered up, fit to be made a price, and a ransom for our sins, and fit to answer the types under the law. Pertinently there- fore, to this purpose, is it said of Christ, ' He himself bare our sins in his own body,' 1 Pet. ii. 24 ; and those infirmities wherein he was 'made like unto us,' Heb. ii. 9, 14, 17, were most conspicuously evi- denced in his body ; and hereby Christ was manifested to be a true man : he had a body like ours, a body subject to manifold infirmities, yea, to death itself. That body which Christ had is said to be ' pre- pared by God;' the Greek word, KaTTjpTlaoo, which is translated ^re- pared, is a metaphor from meclianics, who do artificially fit one part of their work to another, and so finish the whole. God fitted his Son's body to be joined with the deity, and to be an expiatory sacrifice for sin. The word 'prepared' implies that God the Father ordained, formed, and made fit and able, Christ's human nature to undergo, suffer, and fulfil that for which he was sent into the world. God the Father is here said to have prepared Christ a body ; because Christ having received of his Father the human nature out of the flesh and blood of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Ghost, Mat. i. 20 ; Luke i. 31, 35, here gives up the same unto the service of his Father, to do, to suffer, to die, that he might be a sacrifice of expiation for our sins. As for the words of the psalmist, Ps. xl. 6, 'Mine ear hast thou opened,' — Heb. , ' digged open,' it is a proverbial manner of speech, whereby there is implied the qualifying or fitting a man unto obedience in service — the ear, or the opening of the ear, being an emblem, or symbol, or a metaphorical sign of obedience, Isa. Iv. 5 ; Job xxxiii. 16. Now St Paul, following the translation of the Septuagint, and being directed by the Spirit of God, expounds this of God's sanctifying and fitting a body unto Christ, wherein he was obedient, even unto the shame- ful death of the cross. These words, ' Thou hast bored through mine ears,' do import that Christ, now becoming man, gives up himself to
^ Ambrose de Jacob, et Vita beat. lib. i. cap. vi. pp. 290, 291.
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 347
be a willing servant of his Father, to obey him unto the death of the cross. And it is a similitude taken from the servants of the Hebrews, who, after that they had served their masters six years, would not depart out of their masters' service the seventh year, but abide in it continually until death ; for a testimony whereof their ear was bored through on the posts of the door, as may be seen, Exod. xxi. 6. It is therefore as much as if he should say, Thou hast given me a body that is willing and ready in thy service, even unto death. But to conclude this head, the apostle speaking of disannulling the sacrifice of the law, he uses this word body to set out a sacrifice which should come instead of the legal sacrifices, to effect that which the legal sacrifices could not effect. But,
[4.] Fourthly, Observe that Christ, our mediator, freely and readily offers himself to he our pledge and surety. ' Then said I, Lo, I come,' to wit, as surety, to pay the ransom, and to do thy will, 0 God. Every word carrieth a special emphasis as, (1.) The time, ' then,' even so soon as he perceived that his Father had prepared his body for such an end, then, without delay. This speed implieth forwardness and readiness ; he would lose no opportunity. (2.) His profession in this word, * said I ;' he did not closely, secretly, timorously, as being ashamed thereof, but he maketh profession beforehand. (3.) This note of observation, ' Lo ;' this is a kind of calling angels and men to witness, and a desire that all might know his inward intention, and the disposition of his heart ; wherein was as great a willingness as any could have to anything. (4.) An offering of himself without any enforcement or compulsion ; this he manifesteth in this word, ' I come.' (5.) That very instant set out in the present tense, ' I come ;' he puts it not off to a future and uncertain time, but even in that moment, he saith, ' I come.' (6.) The first person twice expressed, thus, ' I said,' ' I come.' He sendeth not another person, nor sub- stituteth any in his room ; but he, even he himself in his own person, Cometh. AH which do abundantly evidence Christ's singular readiness and willingness, as our surety, to do his Father's will, though it were by suffering, and by being made a sacrifice for our sins. God's will was the rule of Christ's active and passive obedience. Jesus Christ, our only mediator and surety, by free and ready obedience and death, did make a proper, real, and full satisfaction to God's justice for the sins of all the elect. Christ hath, by his death and blood, as an invaluable price of our redemption, made sure the favour of God, the pardon of our sins, and the salvation of our souls. Christ hath freed his chosen from all temporal, spiritual, and eternal punishments, properly so called ; so that now the mercy of God may embrace the sinner with- out the least of wrong to his truth or justice. But,
[5.] Fifthly, Observe that Jesus Christ, our surety, does not only agree ivith his Father about the price that he was to lay doivn for our redemption, hut also axjrees with his Father ahout the persons that ivere to he redeemed, and their sanctification : Heb. x, 10, ' By the which will ' — that is, by the execution of which will, by the obedience of Christ to his heavenly Father — ' we are sanctified, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all.' Jesus Christ agrees
348 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION