[2dly.'] That whatever Christ did as mediator, he did it for them whose mediator he was, or in whose stead and for Avhose good he executed the office of a mediator before God. This the Holy Ghost witnesseth, Rom. viii. 3, 4, " What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the right- eousness of the law might be fulfilled in us;" because that we could not in that condition of weakness whereinto we are cast by sin, come to God, and be freed from condemnation by the law, God sent Christ as a mediator, to do and suffer whatever the law required at our hands for that end and purpose, that we might not be condemned, but accepted of God. It was all to this end, — " That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us;" that is, which the law required of us, consisting in duties of obedience. This Christ performed for us. This expression of the apostle, " God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh;" if you will add to it, that of Gal. iv. 4, tliat he was so sent forth as that he was u-ri v6/j.ov yivo/Msvog, " made under the law," (that is, obnoxious to it, to yield all the obedience that it doth require), comprises the whole of what Christ did or suffered ; and all this, the Holy Ghost tells us, was for us, verse 4.
[ofZ/y.] That the end of this active obedience of Christ cannot be assigned to be, that he might be fitted for his death and oblation. For he answered all types, and was every way ix.ot.v6s (fit to be made an offering for sin), by liis union and hnl)itnal gi'ace. So that if the
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obedience Christ performed be not reckoned to us, and done upon our account, there is no just cause to be assigned why he should live here in the world so long as he did, in perfect obedience to all the laws of God. Had he died before, there had been perfect innocence, and perfect holiness, by his habitual grace, and infinite virtue and worth from the dignity of his person; and surely he yielded not that long course of all manner of obedience, but for some great and special purpose in reference to our salvation.
[4^A/^.] That had not the obedience of Christ been for us (in what sense we shall see instantly), it might in his life have been required of him to yield obedience to the law of nature, the alone law which he could be liable to as a man ; for an innocent man in a covenant of works, as he was, needs no other law, nor did God ever give any other law to any such person (the law of creation is all that an in- nocent creature is liable to, with. what symbols of that law God is pleased to add). And yet to this law also was his subjection volun- tary; and that not only consequentially, because he was born upon his own choice, not by any natural course, but also because as media- tor, God and man, he was not by the institution of that law obliged unto it ; being, as it were, exempted and lifted above that law by the hypostatical union : yet, when I say his subjection hereunto was voluntary, I do not intend that it was merely arbitrary and at choice whether he would yield obedience^ unto it or no, — but on supposition of his undertaking to be a mediator, it was necessary it should be so, — but that he voluntarily and willingly submitted unto, and so became really subject to the commands of it. But now, moreover, Jesus Christ yielded perfect obedience to all those laws which came upon us by the occasion of sin, as the ceremonial law ; yea, those very in- stitutions that signified the washing away of sin, and repentance from sin, as the baptism of John, which he had no need of himself This, therefore, must needs be for us.
\pthly.^ That the obedience of Christ cannot be reckoned amongst his sufferings, but is clearly distinct from it, as to all formalities. Doing is one thing, suffering another ; they are in diverse predica- ments, and cannot be coincident.
See, then, briefly what we have obtained by those considerations; and then I shall intimate what is the stream issuing from this first spring or fountain of purchased grace, with what influence it hath thereinto: —
First, By the obedience of- the life of Christ you see what is in- tended,— his willing submission unto, and perfect, complete fulfilling of, every law of God, that any of the saints of God were obliged unto. It is true, every act almost of Christ's obedience, from the blood of
' " Obedientia importat necessitatem respectu ejus quod praecipitur, et voluii- tatem respectu impletionis prsecepti." — Thom. 3, q. 47, 2, 2.
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liis circumcision tiO the blood of his cross, was attended with sufferingf, — so that his whole life might, in that regard, be called a death; but yet, looking upon his willingness and obedience in it, it is distin- guished from his sufferings peculiarly so called, and termed his^ active righteousness. This is, then, I say, as was showed, that complete, absolutely perfect accomplishment of the whole law of God by Christ, our mediator ; whereby he not only " did no sin, neither was there guile found in his mouth," but also most perfectly fulfilled all right- eousness, as he affirmed it became him to do.