First, We are to give in rational evidences that the recovery of mankind was not to be effected by any one who was a mere man, and no more, though it were absolutely necessary that a man he should be ; he must be God also. Secondly, We must inquire into the suitableness or condecency unto divine \visdom in the redemption and salvation of the church by Jesus Christ, who was God and man in one person ; and thereon give a description of the person of Christ and its constitution, which suiteth all the ends of infinite wisdom in this glorious work. The first of these falls under sundry plain demon- strations.
1. That human nature might be restored, or any portion of man- kind be eternally saved unto the glory of God, it was necessary, as we proved before, that an obedience should he yielded unto God and his law, which should give and bring more glory and honour unto his holiness than there was dishonour reflected on it by the disobe- dience of us all. Those who are otherwise minded care not what becomes of the glory of God, so that wicked, sinful man may be saved
THE VALUE OF CHRIST'S OBEDIENCE. 201
one way or other. But these thoughts spring out of our apostasy, and belong not unto that estate wherein we loved God above all, and pre- ferred his glory above all, — as it was with us at the first, in the original constitution of our nature. But such an obedience could never be yielded unto God by any mere creature whatever; — not by any one who was only a man, however dignified and exalted in state and con- dition above all others. For to suppose that God should be pleased and glorified with the obedience of any one man, more tha,n he was displeased and dishonoured by the disobedience of Adam and all his posterity, is to fancy things that have no ground in reason or justice, or are any way suitable unto divine wisdom and holiness. He who un- dertaketh this work must have somewhat that is divine and infinite, to put an infinite value on his obedience — that is, he must be God.
2. The obedience of such a one, of a mere man, could have no influ- ence at all on the recovery of mankind, nor the salvation of the church. For, whatever it were, it would be all due from him for himself, and so could only profit or benefit himself ; for what is due from any on his own account, cannot redound or be reckoned unto the advantage of another. But there is no mere creature, nor can there be any such, but he is obliged for himself unto all the obedience unto God that he is capable of the performance of in this world ; as we have before declared. Yea, universal obedience, in all possible instances, is so absolutely necessary unto him, as a creature made in dependence on God, and for the enjo}mient of him, that the voluntary omission of it, in any one instance, would be a criminal disobedience, ruinous unto his own soul. Wherefore, no such obediencie cp-tild be accepted as any kind of compensation for the disobedience of others, or in their stead. He, then, that performs this obedience must be one who was not ori- ginally obliged thereunto, on his own account, or for himself And this must be a divine person, and none other ; for every mere creature is so obliged. And there is nothing more fundamental in Gospel principles, than that the Lord Christ, in his divine person, was above the law, and for himself owed no obedience thereunto ; but by his own condescension, as he was " made of a woman" for us, so he was " made under the law " for us. And therefore, those by whom the divine person of Christ is denied, do all of them contend that he yielded obedience unto God for himself, and not for us. But herein they bid defiance unto the principal effect of divine wisdom, wherein God will be eternally glorified.
8. The peojj^e to be freed, redeemed, and brought unto glory, were great and innumerable; "a great multitude, which no man can num- ber," Kev. vii. 9. The sins which they were to be delivered, ran- somed, and justified from — for which a propitiation was to be made — were next unto absolutely infinite. They wholly surpass the compre-
202 THE PERSON OF CHRIST.
liension of any created understanding, or the compass of imagination. And in every one of them there was something reductively infinite, as committed against an infinite Majest3^ The miseries which hereon all these persons were obnoxious unto were infinite, because eternal ; or all that evil which our nature is capable to suffer was by them all eternally to be undergone. I- By all these persons, in all these sins, there was an inroad made
^ on the rule and government of God, an affront given unto his justice, ,^_ in the violation of his law; nor can any of them be delivered from the consequents hereof in eternal misery, without a compensation and satisfaction made imto the justice of God. To assert the contrary, is to suppose, that upon the matter it is all one to him whether he be obeyed or disobeyed, whether he be honoured or dishonoured, in and by his creatures; and this is all one as to deny his very being, see- ing it opposeth the glory of his essential properties. Now, to suppose that a mere man, by his temporary suffering of external pains, should make satisfaction unto the justice of God for all the sins of all these persons, so as it should be right and just with him not only to save and deliver them from all the evils they were liable unto, but also to bring them unto life and glory, is to constitute a mediation between God and man that should consist in appearance and ostentation, and not be an effect of divine wisdom, righteousness, and holiness, nor have its foundation in the nature and equity of things themselves. For the things supposed will not be reduced unto any rules of justice or proportion, that one of them should be conceived in any sense to answer unto the other; that is, there is nothing which answers any rule, notions, or conceptions of justice — nothing that might be exem- plary unto men in the punishment of crimes — that the sins of an in- finite aiumber of men, deserving every one of them eternal death, should be expiated by the temporary sufferings of one mere man, so as to demonstrate the righteousness of God in the punishment of sin. But God doth not do these things for show or appearance, but accord- ing unto the real exigence of the holy properties of his nature. And on that supposition, there must be a proportion between the things themselves — namely, the sufferings of one and the deliverance of all. Nor could the faith of man ever find a stable foundation to fix upon on the supposition before mentioned. No faith is able to con- flict with this objection, that the sufferings of one mere man should be accepted with God as a just compensation for the sins of the whole church. Men who, in things of this nature, satisfy themselves with notions and fancies, may digest such suppositions ; but those who make use of faith for their own delivery from under a conviction of sin, the nature and demerit of it, with a sense of the wrath of God, and the curse of the law against it, can find no relief in such notions