Then if we be at peace with God, all other peace will follow ; for good subjects will be at peace with rebels, when they are brought in subjection to their king, and all join in one obedience. Therefore the angels are brought to God again by Christ.
And so for men, there is a spirit of union between them. The same Spirit that knits us to God by faith, knits us one to another by love.
And we have peace with the creature, for when God, who is the Lord of hosts, is made peaceful to us, he makes all other things peaceable. The heathen could say, Tranquillus Deus, tranquillat omnia {e), when God is at peace, he makes all so.
So there is peace in our own hearts. We are assured by the Spirit of God that he is our Father. He seals it to our conscience by his Spirit, because the blood of Christ is set on by the Spirit of God, and not by our own, so that now God and we are brought to one, and angels and we, and all other things. Therefore now the angels say, * Peace on earth,' when Christ was born.
Now, we will shew that this blessed peace, in all the branches of it, is founded in Christ. Christ is the cause and the foundation of it. For though these words were spoken at the incarnation of Christ, yet we refer them to the whole work of his mediatorship, in the state of his abasement and his state of exaltation. Our peace is wholly founded upon him. For he was born and became man, and became sin ; that is, a sacrifice for sin for us ; he became * a curse for us,' to stablish a peace and to satisfy God's anger ; and then he rose again, to shew that, he had fully satisfied God's anger, and that peace was fully established. Therefore the Holy Ghost was sent after the resurrection, as a testimony that God was appeased ; and now in heaven, he is ever there as a priest, to make intercession for us. So that Christ is our peace from his incarnation to his death, from thence to his resurrection, and ascension, and intercession ; all peace with God, ■with angels, and with creatures is stablished in Christ.
Quest. And why in Christ ?
Ans. Christ is every way fitted for it, for he is the mediator between God and man ; therefore by ofiice he is fit to make peace between God and man. He is Emmanuel, himself God and man in one nature ;* therefore his office is to bring God and man together.
* Qu ' person ' ? — Ed.
840 angels' acclamations.
(1.) It is fit it should bo so in rajard of God, who being a ' consuming fire,' will no peace with the creature without a mediator. It stands not with his majesty, neither can there ever be peace with us otherwise. Now Christ is a lit mediator, being a friend to God as the Son of God, and a friend to us, taking our nature upon him, to be a merciful Redeemer.
(2.) It was also fit, in respect of m, it should be so. Alas ! ' who can dwell with everlasting burnings ?' Isa. xxxiii. 14. Who can have com- munion with God, who is a ' consuming fire ?' No. We cannot endure the sight of au angel. The Israelites could not endure the sight of Moses when he came from the mount, his face shone so ; and can we endure the glorious presence of God, * who dwelleth in light that none can attain unto' ? 1 Tim. vi. 16. Therefore God derives all good to us in our flesh, that though we cannot see God directly in himself, yet in the flesh we can see God incarnate. We may see the sun in the water, though we cannot directly look on that creature without hazard. It was a comfort to the patriarchs, that they had Joseph their brother the second man in the king- dom. So it may be to every Christian, that now we have the second person in heaven, our brother in our nature. He is the steward of heaven and earth, to dispense all God's treasures to us. Will not ho acknowledge us, that are ' bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh,' when he took our nature for this end, to be a merciful Redeemer? It is most suitable to our condi- tion, that Christ should be the foundation of our peace.
3. If ivc look to Christ himself, he being God's Son, and the Son of his love, for him to make us sons, and sons of God's love. Is it not most agreeable, that he that is the image of God, should again renew the image of God that we lost ? Jacob's ladder knit heaven and earth together ; so Christ knits heaven and earth, God and us, together. You know if a ladder lie upon the ground, it doth no good, or if it be kept above, it serves for nothing ; so if Christ were only God, or only man, there could be no union wrought between God and man ; but now, being both, he is a fit mediator between both. Christ is the foundation of our peace, in the gracious cove- nant that God hath made with us, in all his offices. For as a prophet, he proclaims peace. He preached before in the time of Noah. He published peace as the prophet of his church in himself, when he lived, and by his ministers when he left the world. And as a priest, he did work our recon- ciliation, offering himself a sacrifice. He made a peace between God and us, and is now in heaven, to make intercession between God and us. And as a king, he subdues the corruptions of our souls, he pulls down the pride of our thoughts, to bring the heart into subjection to him by his mighty power, which indeed requires an almighty power ; also by his kingly office, he rules, and governs, and subdues all the enemies of his church, without and within. You see then, without further illustration, that Christ is the foundation of our peace, by his incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension.