Again, none else is able to satisfy God and pacify conscience.
[1.] Not to satisfy God. Sin being committed against an infinite majesty, the suffering by which he is expiated must be of an infinite value ; and therefore it is impossible that any or all the angels, though holy and just, should propitiate God for our sins. As angels, they were not capable of punishment ; and though they should have assumed human nature, yet being but finite creatures, the worth of their sufferings would not be infinite. Therefore Christ himself, being God and man, was capable to suffer, and give a value to his sufferings ; and therefore we are said to be redeemed by the blood of God, Acts xx. 28, that is, by the blood of that person that was God. God would lose no glory by the fall ; therefore, whoever was the redeemer, he was to restore what Adam lost : Ps. Ixix. 4, 'I restored that which I took not away.' Adam was the robber, but Christ was to make amends. By the fall God's authority was violated, his honour despised. His authority was violated in the creature's transgression ; his command was just, our obedience reasonable. Now it was meet that God should keep up the authority of his law. His majesty despised in the Ihreatenings ; his holiness, as if he did not hate sin ; his justice and truth, as if he would not punish it; his power, it was an act of pre- sumption, and a contest with God. Now in all these respects it was necessaiy God should vindicate his glory, and be no loser, which is fully done by Christ.
[2.] Not pacify conscience. Conscience is not pacified till God be satisfied. God is infinitely merciful, but infinitely just. We cannot expect any more pity from his mercy than fear from his justice; yea, guilty nature is more presagious of evil than of good, as appeareth when we are sensible and serious. Every conscience must have content and satisfaction ; therefore till we can have such a righteousness as will take off the guilt of former sins, and make us bold to stand before (;Iod, which only we can have in Christ, guilty nature can never be ipiiet, nor till God be pacified. Conscience is God's deputy ; till he be satisfied, the creatures are at a loss. The great inquiry of nature
276 SERMONS UPON ACTS II. 37, 38. [SeR. V.
is, 'Wherewith will he be pleased ? ' Micah vi. 6, 7, ' Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the most high God? shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old? will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil ? shall I give my first-born for my trans- gression, and the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul ? ' Barbarous cruelties and costly offerings. Again, lost nature knoweth something of a sacrifice, and something of price and value. Now judge yon whether Grod be satisfied or no. First, A priori. He hath the sacrifice of his own appointing: Heb. ix. 13, 14, ' For if the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your consciences from dead works to serve the living God?' The sacrifices of the law could do that for which they were appointed, which was typical expiation and external sanctification ; they did qualify for worship-work, so far as appointed. And the same apostle saith, Heb. ix. 9, ' Which was a figure for the time then pre- sent, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as appertaining to the consci- ence.' There was no real worth in themselves. The conscience could not have found any ground of satisfaction how God's justice could be satisfied by such mean things as the blood of bulls and goats. There must be something penal, something of value. But in this sacrifice, besides God's institution, there is a real intrinsic worth, which is the dignity of the person and the innocency of the person ; but he could not offer it for himself, therefore it must be intended for some other. Secondly, A posteriori. Consider how God hath accepted Christ. Christ is risen, our surety let out of prison. The Lord sent an angel to remove the stone, not to supply any lack of power in Christ, but as a judge, when the law is satisfied, sends an oflicer to open the prison doors. As the apostles, Acts xvi. 38, 39, 'And the Serjeants told these words unto the magistrates ; and they feared, when they heard that they were Romans; and they came and besought them, and brought them out, and desired them to depart out of the city.' ' The God of peace brought again from the dead the Lord Jesus Christ,' Heb. xiii. 20. Though Christ had power to rise, yet not authority till the angel rolled away the stone : he did not break prison, but was brought out ; then he arose. If our surety had perished in prison, we could have no assurance ; and if he had continued under death, the world could have no discharge. But he rose again for our justification, Rom. iv. 25. And not only so ; Christ is not only taken out of prison, but carried up to God in glory and honour : received into heaven, 1 Tim. iii. 16 ; not ave^rj, ascended, but aveXrjc^dr}, received. God hath rewarded him ; therefore Christ hath perfectly done his work. God hath not only taken him out of the grave, but taken him up to glory. Certainly God is well pleased, since lie hath not only given him a dis- charge, but a reward. He did undertake to carry it through ; as Reuben said. Gen. xliii. 9, 'I will be surety for him ; of my hand shalt thou require him: if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, let me bear the blame for ever.'