[5.] The fifth excellent property of that redemption that we have by Jesus' Christ is this — viz. , it is an enriching redemption ; it is a redemption that makes men rich in ' spiritual blessings in heavenly places,' Eph. i. 3. There are many choice and rare spiritual benefits that wait and attend on redemption, that go hand in hand with re- demption : as reconciliation, remission of our sins, justification of our persons, adoption, sanctification, full glorification, Kom. v. 1, and iii. 24, 25. We have some foretastes of it in this life. Here we have the ' first-fruits of the Spirit,' Kom. viii. 23, 30 ; but in the morning of the resurrection we shall reap the whole harvest of glory. It is called, by way of eminency, ' the salvation of our souls,' 1 Pet. i. 9. Redemption, and the noble benefits attending on it, are salvation begun; but in heaven this shall be salvation consummate. Re- demption is a rich mine, containing a mass of treasure that cannot be valued. Could we dig into it, could we pry into it, we might find variety of the choicest jewels and pearls, in comparison whereof all the riches of the Indies, all the gold of Ophir, and all the precious jewels and most orient pearls that are in the world, are no better than dross. I have read of Tiberius the emperor, that passing by a place where he saw a cross lying in the ground upon a marble stone, and causing the stone to be digged up, he found a great treasure under ^ See also Jer. xixii. 39; Ezek. xxxvii, 25-28, and xxxix. 29.
358 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION
the cross: but what was this treasure but a great nothing to that treasure that is wrapped up in our redemption by Christ ! What the Lord said once to his anointed Cyrus, a temporal deliverer of his people, the same he hath spoken, and much more, to his anointed Jesus, the greater Saviour and Kedeemer of his cliurch : ' I will give thee the treasures of darkness, the hidden' riches of secret places,' Isa. xliii. 3. There are ' unsearchable riches' in Jesus Christ. i^ In him are riches of grace, of all grace ; in him are riches of justification, and riches of sanctification, and riches of consolation, and riches of glori- fication. Would you share in the best of riches, would you share in the most durable riches, would you share in soul riches, would you share in heavenly riches ? Oh, then, secure your interest in the re- demption that is by Jesus Christ. But,
[6.] The sixth, and last, excellent property of that redemption that we have by Jesus Christ is this — viz., it is a redemption-siveetening redemption; it is such a redemption as sweetens all other redemptions. It is redemption by Christ that sweetens our redemption out of this trouble and that, out of this affliction and that, out of this danger and that, out of this sickness and that, out of this bondage and that. Re- demption by Christ is like that tree which Moses cast into the bitter waters of Marah, that made them sweet, Exod. xv. 23. This water became sweet for the use and service of the Israelites for a time only, and remained not always sweet after, as appears by Pliny's Natural History, who makes mention of those bitter waters in his time,2 But the redemption that we have by Jesus Christ does for ever sweeten all the bitter trials and afflictions that we meet with in this world. The Jewish doctors say that this tree was bitter, and they give us this note upon it, ' that it is the manner of the blessed God to sweeten that which is bitter by that which is bitter.' I shall not dispute about the truth of their notion ; but this I may safely say, that it is the manner of the blessed Grod to sweeten our greatest troubles, and our sharpest trials, by that redemption that we have by Jesus Christ. And thus you see the excellent properties of that redemption that Jesus Christ, by covenant or compact with his Father, was engaged to work for us. But,
(4.) The fourth proposition is this — viz.. That the blessed and glo- rious titles that are given to Jesus Christ, in the Holy Scriptures, do clearly and strongly evidence that there was a covenant of redemption passed between God the Father and Jesus Christ. He is called a ' mediator of the covenant ' of reconciliation, interceding for and pro- curing of it ; and that not by a simple entreaty, but by giving him- self over to the Father, calling for satisfaction to justice, that recon- ciliation might go on, for paying a compensatory price sufficient to satisfy divine justice for the elect. * There is one God, and one me- diator between God and men' — to wit, God incarnate — 'the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all ' — to wit, his elect children — ' to be testified in due time,' 1 Tim. ii. 5, 6. Let me glance a little upon the words, ' one mediator between God and men.' In the Greek, it is one mediator of God and men ; which may
^ See my treatise called 'The Unsearchable Riches of Christ.' — [Vol. iii. p. 1, aeq. — G.J * Plin. Natural History, lib. vi., cap. 29.
VERT CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 359