gone out of his moutli, ' In the day that tliou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die ; ajid the soul which sins shall die/ Gen. ii. 17. Look, as there is not a promise of God but shall take place in time, so there is not a threatening of God but shall take place in time, Ezek. xviii. 4. The faithfulness of God, and the honour of God, is as much concerned in making good of terrible threatenings, as they are concerned in mak- ing good of precious promises, 2 Pet. i. 4. God has given it under his-own hand, that ' he will by no means clear the guilty ;' and that ' the soul that sinneth shall surely die ;' and that ' the wickedness ot the wicked shall be upon him ;' and that * he will render to every man according to his deeds,' Exod. xxxiv, 7 ; Ezek. xviii. 20 ; Rom. ii. 6. And will God abrogate his own laws, or will he dare men to sport and play with his threatenings ? Will not every wise and prudent prince look to the execution of their own laws ? and shall not that God, who is wonderful in wisdom, and whose understanding is infinite, see all his laws put in execution against ofi'enders ? Isa. xl. 28 ; Ps. cxlvii. o. Surely yes. Thus you see that God stands upon full satisfaction, and will admit of no treaty of peace with fallen man without it. Now sorry man is never able, either by doing or suffering, to compensate and make God amends for the wrong and injury that he has done to God by his sin ; and therefore one that is able, by doing and suffering, to give complete satisfaction, must undertake it, or else we are lost, cast, and undone in both worlds. Concerning that full and complete satisfaction that Jesus Christ has given to God's enraged justice, I have in part discovered already, and shall say no more to it before I close up the covenant of redemption. But,
(3.) The third proposition is this. The bminess transacted hetiveen those two great and glorious parsons, God the Father, ' ivhose greatness is misearcJiahle,' Ps. cxlv. 3, and Jesus Christ, ' tvho is the prince of tJie kings of the earth,' Eev. i. 5, tvas the redemption and salvation of the elect. Our everlasting blessedness was now fresh in their eyes, and warm upon their hearts. How lost man might be found, and how fallen man might be restored, and how miserable man might be made happy, how slaves might be made sons, and how enemies might be made friends, Luke xv. 30, and how those that ' were afar off might be made nigh,' Eph. ii. 12-17, without the least prejudice to the honour, holiness, justice, wisdom, and truth of God, was the grand business, the thing of things, that lay before them. Upon the account of the covenant, compact, and agreement that was between the Father and the Son, it is that Christ is called ' the second Adam,' 1 Cor. xv. 25 ; for as with the first Adam God plighted a covenant concerning him and his posterity, so also he did indent with Jesus Christ, concerning that eternal redemption, that he was to obtain and secure for his seed, Heb. ix. 12. For the clearing of this, let us a little consider of the excel- lent properties of that redemption that we have by Jesus Christ.
[1.] First, It is a great redemption. The work of redemption was a great work. The greatness of the person emplo3'ed in this work ^^peaks out the work to be a great work. This was a work too high, too hard, too great for all the angels in heaven, and all the men on earth to undertake. None but that Jesus who is ' mighty to save,'
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 353
Isa. Ixiii. 1, was ever able to bring about the redemption of man. Hence Christ is called the Deliverer, Rom. xi. 26 : ' And their redeemer is mighty,' Pro v. xxiii. 11 ; Isa. xliv. 6, ' And his redeemer, the Lord of hosts ; ' Isa. xlvii. 4, ' As for our redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name ; ' Isa. xlix. 26, ' And thy redeemer, the mighty one of Jacob ; ' Jer. 1. 34, ' Their redeemer is strong, the Lord of hosts is his name.' Again, the great and invaluable price that was paid down for our redemption speaks it out to be a great redemption. The price that we are bought with is a price beyond all compute. 1 Pet. i. 18, 19, ' Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corrupt- ible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation ; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot,' 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20, and vii. 23. Christ was a lamb (1.) for harmlessness ; (2.) for patience and silence in afflictions ; (3.) for meekness and humility ; (4.) for sacrifice. This lamb was ' without blemish,' Isa. liii. 7, that is, free from actual sin, and ' without spot,' that is, free from original sin, Jer. xi. 19, [Aquinas] That the most ab- solute and perfect purity of Christ — prefigured in the lambs of the Old Testament, that were to be sacrificed — might be better expressed, the apostle calls him ' a lamb without blemish, and without spot,' Eph. v. 27. The price that this lamb without a spot has laid down is suffi- cient to pay all our debts ; it is a price beyond all compute. All the silver, gold, pearls, jewels in the world, are of no value, in respect of this price ; a price in itself infinite, and of infinite value. Among the Romans, the goods and estates which men had gotten in the wars, with hazard of their lives, were called peculium castrense, or a field- purchase, i Oh how well then may the elect be called Christ's pecM- lium castrense, his purchase, gotten not only by the jeopardy of his life, but with the loss of his life and blood, Johnx. 11, 15, 17, 18, and Acts XX. 28. Again, if you compare the work of redemption with other great works, you must necessarily conclude that the work of redemption is a great work. The making of the world was a great work of God, but yet that did but cost him a word of his mouth, a ' let it be ;• ' he spake the word, and it was done ; ' He said, Let there be light, and there was light,' &c.. Gen. i. 3-6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24 ; but the work of redemption cost Christ's dearest blood. Much matter of admiration doth the work of redemption afibrd us. The work of creation is many ways admirable, yet not to be compared with the work of redemption, wherein the power, wisdom, justice, mercy, and other divine attributes of God do much more shine forth ; and wherein the redeemed reap much more good than Adam did by his creation, which will evidently appear by observing these particular differences :
First, In the creation God brought something out of nothing ; but in the work of redemption, out of one contrary he brought another ; out of death he brought life. This was a work of far greater power, wisdom, mercy. Death must first be destroyed, and then life brought forth.
Secondly, In creation there was but a word ; and thereupon the
^ Neither God nor Christ could lay down a c:reater price. All things in heaven and earth are not to be compared to this blood, to this price.
354 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION