ful death of the cross ; upon which account the Father rewards him highly by exalting him to singular glory and transcendent honour. Look, that as the assumption of the human nature is the highest in- stance of free mercy,, so is the rewarding thereof in its state of exalta- tion the highest instance of remunerative justice. Oh, how highly is the human nature of Christ honoured by being exalted to a personal union with the Godhead ! Though vain men may dishonour Christ, yet the Father hath conferred honour upon him as mediator, that it may be a testimony to us that he is infinitely pleased with the re- demption of lost man. Although Christ be, in himself, God all-suffi- cient, ' God blessed for ever,' and so is not capable of any access of glory ; yet it pleased him to condescend so far as to obscure his own glory under the veil of his flesh, and state of humiliation, till he had perfected the work of redemption ; and to accoiint of his office of mediator, and the dignity accompanying it, as great honour conferred upon him by the Father, John viii. 54: and it is observable that Christ having finished our redemption on earth, he petitions his Father to advance him to the possession of that glory that he enjoyed from all eternity ; ' And now, 0 Father, glorify thou me with thine own self ; with the glory which I had with thee before the world was,' John xvii. 5. Now for the clearing up of this text we are to consider, that as Christ was from all eternity the glorious God, the God of glory ; so we are not to conceive of any real change in this glory of his god- head ; as if by his estate of humiliation he had sufiered any diminu- tion, or by his state of exaltation any real accession were made to his glory as God. But the meaning is this, that Christ having, according to the paction passed betwixt the Father and him, obscured the glory of his godhead for a time, under the veil of the form of a servant, and our sinless infirmities, doth now expect, according to the tenor of the same paction, that, after he hath done his work as mediator, he be highly exalted and glorified in his whole person ; that his human nature be exalted to what glory finite nature is capable of, and that the glory of his godhead might shine in the person of Christ, God- man, and in the man Christ Jesus. ^ Thus you see the promises, the encouragements, and rewards that God the Father sets before Jesus Christ. And let thus much suffice concerning the articles of the covenant on God's part.
In the last place, Let us seriously consider of the articles of the covenant on Christ's part; and let us weigh loell the promises that Jesus Christ has made to the Father for the bringing about the great loorh of our redemption, that so we may see what infinite cause we have to love the Son as we love the Father, and to honour the Son as we honour the Father, and' to trust in the Son as we trust in the Father, and to glorify the Son as we glorify the Father, &c. Now there are six observable things on Christ's part, on Christ's side, that we are to take special notice of, &c.
[1.] First, Christ having consented and agreed with the Father about our redemption, accordingly he applies himself to the discharge
^ Jesus Christ is true God, and was infinitely glorious from all eternity, for he had glory with his Father before the world was; and therefore he was no upstart God, and of a later standing, as the Arians and Mohammedans make of him.
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 387
of tJmt great and glorious zvork by taking a body, by assuming our nature : Heb. ii. 14, ' Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same.' He who was equal with God did so far abase himself as to take on him the nature of man, and subjected himself to all manner of human frailties, so far as they are freed from sin, even such as accompany flesh and blood ; and this is one of the wonders of mercy and love, that Christ our head should stoop so low, who was himself full of glory, as to take part of flesh and blood, that he might sufier for flesh and blood : ver. 16, ' For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.' Christ assumed the common nature of man, and not of any particular person. The apostle doth here purposely use this word * seed,' to shew that Christ came out of the loins of man, as Jacob's children and their children are said to come out of his loins. Gen. xlvi. 26, and as all the Jews are said to come out of the loins of Abraham, Exod. i. 5 ; Heb. vii. 5 ; and as Solomon is said to come out of the loins of David, 1 Kings viii. 19. In a man's loins his seed is, and it is a part of his substance. Thus it . sheweth that Christ's human nature was of the very substance of man, and that Christ was the very same that was promised to be the Kedeemer of man ; for of old he was foretold under this word seed, as ' the seed of the woman,' ' the seed of Abraham,' ' the seed of Isaac,' 'the seed of David.' i This word, 'he took on him,' as it setteth out the human nature of Christ, so it gives us a hint of his divine nature ; for it presupposeth that Christ was before he took on him the seed of Abraham. He that taketh anything on him must needs be before he do so. Is it possible for him that is not, to take anything on him ? Now Christ, in regard of his human nature, was not before he assumed that nature ; therefore that former being must needs be in regard of his divine nature. In that respect he ever was even the eternal God. Being God, he took on him a human nature. Christ's eternal deity shines in this 16th verse, and so does his true humanity; in that he took upon him the seed of man, it is most evident that he was a true man. Seed is the matter of man's nature, and the very substance thereof The seed of man is the root, out of which Christ assumed his human nature, Isa. xi. 1. The human nature was not created of nothing, nor was it brought from heaven, but assumed out of the seed of man, Luke i. 35. The human nature of Christ never had a subsistence in itself. At or in the very first framing or making it, it was united to the divine nature ; and at or in the first uniting it, it was framed or made. Philosophers say of the uniting of the soul to the body, in creating it it is infused, and in infusing it it is created, Creando infunditur, et infundendo creatur. Much more is this true, concerning the human nature of Christ, united to his divine. Fitly therefore is it here said, that he ' took on him the seed of Abraham.' So John i. 14, ' The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.' The evangelist having proved the divinity of Jesus Christ, comes now to speak of his humanity, incar- nation, and manifestation in the flesh, whereby he became God and man in one person. ' Flesh ' here signifies the whole man in Scrip-
.' Gen. iii. 15; Kom. ix. 7; Heb. xi. 18; John viii. 58.
388 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION