170 THE DEATH OF DEATH. [BOOK I.
great undertaking, and a strong motive to exercise his graces received in the utmost endurings, was this engagement of his Father upon this compact of assistance and protection.
Secondly, [His promise] of success, or a good issue out of all his sufferings, and a happy accomplishment and attainment of the end of his great undertaking. Now, of all the rest this chiefly is to be considered, as directly conducing to the business proposed, which yet would not have been so clear without the former considerations; for whatsoever it was that God promised his Son should be fidfilled and attained by him, that certainly was it at which the Son aimed in the whole undertaking, and designed it as the end of the work that was committed to him, and which alone he could and did claim upon the accomplishment of his Father's will. What this was, and the promises whereby it is at large set forth, ye have Isa. xlix. : "Thou shalt be my servant," saith the Lord, " to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel : I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be ray salvation to the end of the earth. Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, be- cause of the LoED that is faithful." And he will certainly accomplish this engagement : " I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; that thou mayest say to the prisoners. Go forth; to them that are in darkness. Show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places. They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them. And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted. Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim," verses 6-12. By all which expressions the Lord evidently and clearly engageth himself to his Son, tbat he should gather to himself a glorious church of believers from among Jews and Gentiles, through all the world, that should be l^rought unto him, and certainly fed in full pasture, and refreshed by the springs of water, all the spiritual springs of hving water which flow from God in Christ for their everlasting salvation. This, then, our Saviour certainly aimed at, as being the promise upon which he undertook the work, — the gathering of the sons of God to- gether, their bringing \mto God, and passing to eternal salvation; which being well considered, it will utterly overthrow the general ransom or universal redemption, as afterward will appear. In the 53d chapter of the same prophecy, the Lord is more express and punctual in these promises to his Son, assuring him that when he " made his soul an offering for sin, he should see his seed, and pro- long his days, and the pleasure -of the LoRD should prosper in his
END OF Christ's death as eternally intended. 171
hand; that he should see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied; by his knowledge he should justify many; that he should divide a portion with the great, and the spoil with the strong," verses 10-12. He was, you see, to see his seed l)y covenant, and to raise up a spiri- tual seed unto God, a faithful people, to be prolonged and preserved throughout all generations; which, how well it consists with their persuasion who in terms have affirmed " that the death of Christ might have had its full and vitmost eftect and yet none be saved," I cannot see, though some have boldly affirmed it, and all the assertors of universal redemption do tacitly grant, when they come to the as- signing of the proper ends and effects of the death of Christ. " The pleasure of the Lord," also, was to " prosper in his hand ;" which what it was he declares, Heb. ii. 10, even " bringing of many sons unto glory ;" for " God sent his only-begotten Son into the world that we might live through him," 1 John iv, 9 ; as we shall afterward more abundantly declare. But the promises of God made unto him in their agreement, and so, consequently, his own aim and intention, may be seen in nothing more manifestly than in the request that our Saviour makes upon the accomplishment of the work about which he was sent; which certainly was neither for more nor less than God had engaged himself to him for. " I have," saith he, " glorified thee on earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do," John xvii. 4. And now, what doth he require after the manifestation of his eternal glory, of which for a season he had emptied himself, verse 5 ? Clearly a full confluence of the love of God and fruits of that love upon all his elect, in faith, sanctification, and glory. God gave them unto him, and he sanctified himself to be a sacrifice for their sake, praying for their sanctification, verses 17-19; tlieir preservation in peace, or communion one with another, and union with God, verses 20, 21, "I pray not for these alone" (that is, his apostles), "but for them also which shall believe on me through their word ; that they all may be one; as thou. Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us;" and lastly, their glory, verse 24, " Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am ; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me." All which several postidata are no doubt grounded upon the fore-cited promises, which by his Father were made unto him. And in this, not one word concerning all and every one, but expressly the con- trary, verse 9. Let this, then, be diligently observed, that the promise of God unto his Sou, and the request of the Son unto his Father, are directed to this peculiar end of bringing sons unto God. And this is the first act, consisting of these three particulars.