2. Christ's condescension. He submitteth to be sent : Ps. xl. 7, 8, ' Lo, I come ; in the volume of the book it is written of me. I delight to do thy will, 0 my God ; yea, thy law is within my heart.' AVe could never have asked so much as God hath given. He would not only borrow our tongue to speak to us, but our bowels to mourn for
VeR. 3.] SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. 165
US, and our bodies to die for us. He layeth aside his majesty, and taketh on himself the condition of a servant. It is irksome to us to go back ten degrees in pomp or pleasure upon just and convenient reasons. Oh ! the wonderful self-denial of Christ ! He laid aside the majesty of God, and submitted to the greatest abasement and suffering.
3. The value of souls and spiritual privileges. If we despise them, we put an affront upon the wisdom of heaven, and undervalue Christ's purchase. Freedom from sin, justification, holiness, they are the only things. Christ was sent from heaven to purchase them. Gold and silver would not buy them ; money is not current in heaven, though it doth all things in the world : 1 Peter i. 18, ' We are not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from our vain conversa- tions, but with the precious blood of the Son of God, as of a lamb with- out spot and blemish.' Christ must come from heaven, and take a body, and shed his blood. Scourge your hearts with that question, Heb. ii. 3, ' How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?' Sure we should be more serious, and think that worthy of our best endeavours and greatest earnestness which Christ thought worthy a journey from heaven, and all the pains and shame he suffered.
Secondly, The next thing in the text is that he is Jesus : Mat. i. 21, ' Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.' It is there interpreted to signify a saviour ; an angel himself is the expositor. So here Christ is sent to be a saviour ; that is a prin- cipal object of faith, to look upon Christ as the Saviour of the world. A saviour properly is one that delivereth from evil. Now Christ doth not only deliver us from evil, from sin, the wrath of God, the accu- sations of the law, and eternal death, but positively he giveth us grace and righteousness and eternal life. He is a saviour to defend us, and a saviour to bless us : Ps. Ixxxiv. 11, * The Lord God is a sun and a shield ; he will give grace and glory, and no good thing will he with- hold from them that walk uprightly.' The mercies of the covenant are privative and positive. Many enter into a league that they will not hurt one another ; but God is in covenant with us to bless us. If Christ had only procured some place for us, unacquainted with pain or pleasure, it had been much ; but we have not only a ransom, but an inheritance ; instead of horrors and bowlings, everlasting joys. Again, many are called saviours either because of their subordinate subserviency to Christ, instruments in inward and outward salvation ; but these saviours needed a saviour. Christ is the true Jesus, who saveth as an author of grace, not as an instrument and means of con- veyance. Now Christ is a saviour partly by merit, partly by efficacy and power ; he doth something for us and something in us : for us, he prevaileth by the merit of his death ; in us, by the efficacy of his Spirit ; all his work is not done on the cross. Both are necessary, partly in regard of the difference of the enemies ; God and the law are in a distinct rank from sin and death, Satan and the world. God was an enemy ; he cannot be overcome, but must be reconciled ; the law an enemy that could not be disannulled, but must be satisfied. Sin, the world, and Satan assault us out of malice, they make themselves our enemies ; the law and God are made enemies out of our rebellion ; therefore Christ must satisfy as well as overcome. To reconcile God,
166 SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. [SeK. IV.
he shed his blood on the cross. Justice must have a sacrifice and the law satisfaction ; the curses of the law are not to fall to the ground ; somebody must be made a curse to keep up the authority of the law ; the law was an innocent enemy, and therefore not to be relaxed or repealed. Partly in regard of the different fight of the other enemies, that are enemies out of malice. Satan is not only a tempter but an accuser. As a tempter, so Christ was to overcome him by his power ; as an accuser, by his merit. When Satan condemneth, Christ is to intercede and represent his own merit ; the plaster must be as broad as the sore ; so far as Satan is an enemy, so far must Christ be a saviour and redeemer, by his power against the temptations, by his merit against the accusations of Satan. As the devil is an accuser, Christ is an advocate. Partly because Satan hath a double power over a sinner — legal and usurped. Legal, as God's executioner, by the ordination of God's justice : Heb. ii. 14, ' That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.' Christ is to die to put Satan out of office usurped, as the god of this world. God made him an executioner, we a prince : John xii. 31, 'Now shall the prince of this world be cast out.' Christ rescueth prisoners : Isa. xlix. 9, ' That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth.' He will rescue and recover the elect when by their own default they put themselves in Satan's hands. Partly for our comfort. By his own obedience and merit Christ giveth us a right and title, but by his efficacy and power he giveth us possession. He is to buy our peace, grace, comfort, and then to see that we are possessed of it.