^ See John x. 17, aud xvi. 27.
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 365
with the devil and his angels. Now out of this forlorn estate he can never deliver himself, neither can all the angels in heaven deliver him. Now this being his present case and state, I make this offer to thee, 0 my Son : If, in the fulness of time, Phil, ii, 7, 8, thou wilt assume the nature of man, ' tread the winepress of my wrath alone,' Isa. Ixiii. 3, bear the curse. Gal. iii. 13, shed thy blood, die, suffer, satisfy my justice, fulfil my royal law, then I can, upon the most honourable terms imaginable, save fallen man, and put him into a safer and happier condition than ever that was from whence Adam fell, and give thee a noble reward for all thy sufferings. Upon this Jesus Christ replies: 0 my Father! I am very ready and willing to do, to suffer, to die, to satisfy thy justice, to comply with thee in all thy noble motions, and in all thy gracious and favourable inclinations, that poor sinners may be sanctified and saved, made gracious and glorious, holy and happy; that poor sinners may never perish, that poor sinners may be secured from wrath to come, and be brought into a state of light, life, and love, 1 Thes. i. 10 ; Heb. x. 10, 14 ; I am willing to make myself an offering ; and, ' Lo, I am come to do thy will, 0 Grod,' Ps. xl. 6, 7. Thus you see how firstly, and greatly, and graciously, the thoughts of God have been set at work, that poor sin- ners may be for ever secured and saved. But,
(7.) The seventh proposition is this, It was agreed between the Father and the Son that Jesics Christ should be incarnate, thai he should take on Mm the nature of those whom he ivas to save, and for whom he loas to satisfy, and to bring to glory. ^ Christ's incarnation was very necessary in respect of that work of redemption, that he, by agreement with the Father, had undertaken. He had engaged him- self to his Father that he would redeem lost sinners, and, as their surety, make full satisfaction. By the fall of Adam, God and man was fallen out, they were at variance, at enmity, at open hostility, Kom. viii. 7 ; so that by this means all intercourse between heaven and earth was stopped, and all trading between God and us ceased. Now to redress all this, and to make an atonement, a mediator was necessary ; now this office belonged unto Jesus Christ, both by his Father s ordination and his own voluntary susception, Heb. x. 5-7 ; and for discharge of it a human nature was very requisite. There was an absolute neces- sity that Christ should suffer, partly because he was pleased to sub- stitute himself in the sinner's stead, and partly because his sufferings only could be satisfactory. But now, unless Christ be incarnate, how can he suffer ? The whole lies thus : without satisfaction no redemp- tion, without suffering no satisfaction, without flesh no suffering ; ergo^ Christ must be incarnate. The Word must be made flesh, John i. 14 : and so Heb. ii. 14, 16, ' Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same ; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil ; for verily he took not on him the nature of angels ; but he took on him the seed of Abraham :' 1 Tim. iii. 16, * Without con- troversy, great is the mystery of godliness : God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles,
^ Gen. iii. 15 ; 1 John iii. 8 ; Acts ii. 30, and iii. 22 ; Isa. vii 14, and ix. 6 ; Deut. iviii. 15-18 ; Gal. iv. 4; Rom. viii. 3.
366 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION
believed on in the world, received up into glory.' This is only applic- able to the person of Christ. He that by his office is to be Emmanuel, God with us, he must, in regard of his person, be Emmanuel also, that is, God-man in one person. He that by office is to make peace between God and man, he must be God-man ; he that by office is to stand and minister between God and men, he must be God and man, that so he might not be only zealously faithful towards God's justice, but also tenderly merciful towards men's errors, Heb. ii. 17, 18, and iv. 15, 16. Look, as he must be more than man that he may be able so to suffer, that his sufferings may be nieritorious, that he may go through-stitch with the work of redemption, and triumph over death, devils, difficulties, discouragements, curse, hell, wrath, &c., all which Christ could never have done had he been but a mere man, so it was requisite that he should be man, that he might be in a capacity to suffer, die, and obey ; for these are not works for one who is only God. A God only cannot suffer, a man only cannot merit. God cannot obey, man is bound to obey. Wherefore Christ, that he might obey and suffer, he was man ; and that he might merit by his obedience and suffering, he was God-man. Now such a person, and only such a person, did the work of redemption call for. That is a mighty scripture, Phil. ii. 6, 7, ' Who being in the form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God' — here's Christ's pre- existing in the nature of the Godhead, and then after comes his man- hood— 'but made himself of no reputation:' Greek, he 'emptied himself,' as it were, of his divine dignity and majesty ; he did disrobe himself of his glory, and became a sinner, both by imputation and reputation, for our sakes, for our salvation — ' and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men,' Isa. liii. 6, 9. All this Christ did upon his Father's prescription, and in pursuit of the great work of redemption. The blessed Spirit fitted the man Christ Jesus to be a meet mediator and redeemer for poor sinners. The Spirit formed the nature of man, of the substance of the virgin, after an extraordinary manner for the service of the Lord Christ, Luke i. 35 ; he sanctified the human nature which Christ assumed, after such a perfect manner, that it was free from all sin, Gal. iv. 4 ; Luke i. 35 ; in the very moment of conception he united this pure human nature with the divine in the same person, the person of the Son of God, that he might be a fit head, mediator, and redeemer for us, Heb. X. 5. But,