The recompense, with respect unto the glory of God, for disobe- dience must be by obedience, as hath been before declared. And if there be not a full obedience yielded unto the law of God in that nature that sinned, man cannot be saved without an eternal violation of the glory of God therein. But the disobedience of him who was every way obliged unto obedience could not be compensated but by his obedience who was no way obliged thereunto; and this could be only the obedience of him that is God, (for all creatures are obliged to obedience for themselves,) and it could be performed only by him who was man. Wherefore, for the accomplishment of this obedience, he who, in his own person as God, was above the law, was in his
THE INHERITANCE LOST IN ADAM. 209
liuman nature, in his own j)erson as man, made under tlie law. Had he not been made under the law, what he did could not have been obedience; and had he not been in himself above the law, his obe- dience could not have been beneficial unto us. The sin of Adam (and the same is in the nature of every sin) consisted in this — that he who was naturally every way under the law, and subject unto it, would be every way above the law, and no way obhged by it. Where- fore it was taken away, unto the glory of God, by his obedience, who being in himself above the law, no way subject unto it, yet submitted, humbled himself, to be "made under the law," to be every way obliged by it. See Gal. iii. 13, iv. 4. This is the subject of the dis- course of the apostle, Rom. v., from verse 12 to the end of the chapter.
Unto the glory of God in all these ends, the person of Christ, as an effect of infinite wisdom, was meet and able to be a mediator and undertaker between God and man. In the union of both our natures in the same person, he was so meet by his relation unto both ; — unto God by filiation, or sonship ; unto us by brotherhood, or nearness of kindred, Heb. ii. 14. And he was able from the dignity of his per- son ; for the temporary sufferings of him who was eternal were a full compensation for the eternal sufferings of them who were temporary.
4. God made man the lord of all things here below. He was, as it were, the heir of God, as unto the inheritance of this world in pre- sent, and as unto a blessed state in eternal glory. But he lost all right and title hereunto by sin. He made forfeiture of the whole by the law of tenure whereby he held it, and God took the forfeiture. Wherefore he designs a new heir of all, and vests the whole inherit- ance of heaven and earth in him, even in his Son. He appointed him " the heir of all things," Heb. i. 2. This translation of God's in- heritance the apostle declares, Heb. ii. 6-9 ; for the words which he cites from Ps. viii. 4-6, — " What is man, that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man, that thou visitest him ? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet," — do declare the original condition of mankind in general. But man for- feited the dominion and inheritance that he was intrusted withal ; and God settleth it anew, solely in the man Christ Jesus. So the apostle adds, "We see not yet all things put under him;" but we see it all accomplished in Jesus, verse 8. But as all other inheritances do de- scend with theirs, so did this unto him with its burden. There was a great debt upon it — the debt of sin. This he was to undergo, to make payment of, or satisfaction for, or he could not rightly enter upon the inheritance. This could no otherwise be done but by his suffering in our nature, as hath been declared. He who was the heir of all, was
VOL. L 14
210 THE PERSON OF CHRIST.
in himself to purge our sins. Herein did the infinite wisdom of God manifest itself, in that he conveyed the inheritance of all things unto him who was meet and able so to enter upon it, so to enjoy and possess it, as that no detriment or damage might arise unto the riches, the re- venue, the glory of God, from the waste made by the former possessor.
5. Mankind was to be recovered unto faith and trust in God, as also unto the love of him above all. All these things had utterly forsaken our nature ; and the reduction of them into it is a work of the greatest difficulty. We had so provoked God, he had given such evidences of his wrath and displeasure against us, and our minds thereon were so alienated from him, as we stood in need of the strongest motives and highest encouragements once to attempt to return unto him, so as to place all our faith and trust in him, and all our love upon him.