For the power which Satan had over mankind was in itself unjust. For, (1.) He obtained it hy fraud and deceit: " The serpent beguiled" Eve. (2.) He possessed it with injustice, with respect unto God, being an invader of his right and possession. (3.) He used and exercised it "with malice, tyranny, and rage ; — so as that it was every way un- just, both in its foundation and execution. With respect hereunto he was justly destroyed by omnipotent power, which puts forth itself in his eternal punishment. But, on the other side, mankind did suf- fer justly under liis power — being given up unto it in the righteous judgment of God. For one may suffe7' justly what another doth un- justly inflict; as when one causelessly strikes an innocent man, if he strikes him again, he who did the first injury suffereth justly, but the other doth unjustly in revenging himself. Wherefore, as man was given up unto him in a way of punishment, he was a lawful cap- tive, and was not to be delivered but in a way of justice. And this was done in a way that Satan never thought of. For, by the obedi- ence and sufferings of the Son of God incarnate, there was full satis- faction made unto the justice of God for the sins of man, a reparation of his glory, and an exaltation of the honour of his holiness, with all the other properties of his nature, as also of his law, outbalancing all the diminution of it by the first apostasy of mankind ; as hath been declared. Immediately hereon all the charms of Satan were dis- solved, all his chains loosed, his darkness that he had brought on the creation dispelled, his whole plot and design defeated ; — whereon he saw himself, and was exposed unto all the holy angels of heaven, in all the counsels, craft, and power he had boasted of, to be nothing but a congeries — a mass of darkness, malice, folly, impotency, and rage.
Hereon did Satan make an entrance into one of the principal parts
218 THE PERSON OF CHRIST.
of his eternal toiineiits, in that furious self-maceration which he is given up unto on the consideration of his defeat and disappointment. Absolute power he always feared, and what it would produce; for he believes that, and trembles. But against any other way he thought he had secured himself It lieth plain to every understanding, what shame, confusion, and self-revenge, the proud apostate was cast into, upon his holy, righteous disappointment of his design ; whereas he had always promised himself to carry his cause, or at least to put God to act in the destruction of his dominion, by mere omnipotent power, without regard unto any other properties of his nature. To find that which he contrived for the destruction of the glory of God — the disap- pointment of his ends in the creation of all things — and the eternal ruin of mankind, to issue in a more glorious exaltation of the holy properties of the divine nature, and an unspeakable augmentation of blessedness unto mankind itself, is the highest aggravation of his eternal torments. This was a work every way becoming the infinite wisdom of God.
9. Whereas there are three distinct persons in the holy Trinity, it became the wisdom of God that the Son, the second person, should undertake this work, and be incarnate. I shall but sparingly touch on this glorious mystery; for as unto the reason of it, it is absolutely resolved into the infinite wisdom and sovereign counsel of the divine will. And all such things are the objects of a holy admiration-^not curiously to be inquired into. To intrude ourselves into the things which we have not seen — that is, which are not revealed — in those con- cernments of them which are not revealed, is not unto the advantage of faith in our edification. But as unto what is declared of them — either immediately and directly, or by their relation unto other known truths — we may meditate on them unto the improvement of faith and love to- wards God. And some things are thus evident unto us in this mystery.
(1.) We had by sin lost the image of God, and thereby all gracious acceptance with him, — all interest in his love and favour. In our recovery, as we have declared, this image is again to be restored unto us, or we are to be renewed into the likeness of God. And there was a condecency unto divine wisdom, that this work should, in a peculiar manner, be effected by him who is the essential image of God — that is, the Father. This, as we have formerly showed, was the person of the Son. Receiving his personal subsistence, and therewithal the divine nature, with all its essential properties, from the Father by eternal generation, he was thereon the express image of his person, and the brightness of his glory. Whatever is in the person of the Father is in the person of the Son, and being all received from the Father, he is his essential image. And one end of his incarnation was, that he might be the representative image of God unto us. Whereas, therefore, in the work of our recovery, the image of God should be