VeR. 18.] SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. 465
priest had the names of the twelve tribes upon his shoulders and upon his breast, Exod. xxviii. 12-29, — upon his shoulders, to represent them to God, and upon his breast, to show how dear they were to himself, — so Jesus Christ hath, as it were, the names of all those for whom he was to suffer and intercede ; he was to know them man by man. And it was meet that he should know all the sins that were imputed to him ; and therefore the person thus sent, for such a work as this was, must needs be God. Again, he must be God, that he might support his human nature, and overcome his sufferings. Jesus Christ was to be raised, and also to raise himself ; he was to be raised by God the Father as a judge. As the apostles would not go out of prison till the magistrates came to fetch them out themselves, so God as judge is said to raise Christ, and exalt him ; he must give him power to rise. But now Christ was also to raise himself : John ii. 19, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it again,' He was to raise himself, to declare the glory of his person. Christ was to rise by his Father's authority, and to rise by his own power. He was to rise by the Father's authority ; therefore, as a pledge of it, an angel is sent to roll away the stone, and open the prison-door, and let our surety out of prison, the debt being paid. And Christ was to rise also by the strength of his own godhead. Why ? This was necessary for our satisfaction. He that would undertake our case, with comfort and satisfaction to the creature, had need be able to overcome divine wrath, for the creature could never have satisfied. If our surety were kept in prison, and held under wrath, we could have no security that the debt was paid ; the great assurance that is given to the world is the resurrection of Christ : Acts xvii. 31, ' AVhereof he hath given assurance to all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead ; ' this was his public acquittance and discharge. Again, it was necessary he should be God, for so much of his prophetical office as he accomplished upon earth. Christ came to bring the everlasting gospel out of the bosom of God, and to ratify it with miracles, to choose disciples to preach it, to give the Holy Ghost, to give tiiem power to work miracles, suitable to the tenor of the gospel ; as raising the dead, giving sight to the blind, &c. Thus his godhead was necessary to his work.
But now, upon his sending (and that is more formally and expressly intended in the phrase), he had new qualifications and a new power ; for as God he could not suffer, therefore the manhood is bestowed upon him : Ps. xl. 7, ' A body hast thou prepared for me.' This is formally implied in that expression, ' He sent him;' that is, prepared a body for him. God's sending of Christ doth not imply his change of place ; for Christ, as God, before was everywhere ; ' the heaven of heavens could not contain him ; ' but it implies the assumption of another nature. He was sent, that is, took flesh, assumed another nature into his own person. Now this was necessary, that Christ should be man, that he might have an interest in us, and have compassion on us, and be in a capacity to die for us. That he might have an interest in us, and be of our blood : the next of blood had a right to redeem, Kuth iii. 9. Therefore Christ, he took our nature, that he might be of our blood, that so he might have a right to redeem us, having an interest in us ; and therefore he was not only man, but the Son of man. Christ
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466 SERMONS uroN JOHN XVII. [Ser. XXX,
might have been true man, if God had formed him out of the dust of the ground, as he did Adam, he might have given him a true human nature. But Christ was not only man, hut was of our stock and hn- eage ; and therefore it is said, Heb. ii. 14, ' Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same ;' and ver. 11, ' For both he that sanctifieth, and they that are sanctified, are all of one.' They are ' all of one.' How is that ? Of one stock. Justice required that the same nature that had sinned should be punished. It was not fit our sins should be punished in the nature of an angel, nor in the nature of man that was made out of nothing, or out of the dust of the ground ; but in one that was of the same stock. Again, that he might have compassion on us, as well as an interest in us. Christ hath a nature that inclines him to his office ; besides his essential mercy as God, there is a human compassion, which ariseth from feeling and from experience : Heb. iv. 15, ' For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities ; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet with- out sin.' He took our nature, that he might have experience of our sorrows, miseries, temptations, and so entender his own heart by an experimental pity and compassion. As man, Christ had a feeling what it was to be in the state of men, that we might have an assurance of his pity. As a man that hath felt the racking of the gout and stone is more fit to pity others in the same case, so Jesus Christ, having had a feeling of the buflfetings of Satan, and wrath of God, and of the neglects and scorns of men, feeling of all conditions that are miserable, his heart is the more entendered, his human compassion is increased ; and God would have it to be so for our greater assurance. Again, his human nature gave him a capacity to suffer. As God he could not suffer ; and therefore when God would have no more sacrifices, but all were to be abolished ; he prepared Christ a body : Heb. x. 5, God invested him with a human nature, that he might offer one sacrifice to abolish all the rest. Thus you see Christ was sent, that is, fitted by his two natures ; his divine nature, that is supposed, and his human nature is formally included in that expression, ' He was sent ; ' that is, assumed a body, did not change place, but assumed a nature in his own person, that so he might be fit to deal with God for us.