The Morning Exercise Methodized

3. The third thing considerable in the Legal Covenant, is the promise that God made to those that obeyed it, and that was perpetual happiness in the Land of Canaan.

[By the way to prevent mistakes, I do not say, neither will the Scripture at all warrant any such assertion, as that the Fathers under the Old Testament had only temporal promises; they had salvation promised them, and pardon of sin promised them; but thanks to the Gospel for those promises; the Apostle tells us, Gal. 3.17. The Covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the Law which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect; the Morning Star of the Gospel Covenant that shone upon Abraham four hundred and thirty years before the Legal Covenant was given, did shine thorough that dark dispensation.]

But to speak of the Legal promises as L • gal, so they are of temporal good things, and they were made to works, not to faith; Rom. 4.4. To him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.

4. The fourth thing considerable in this Covenant which had no place at all in the former, is a Mediator; Now the Mediator of the Covenant strictly legal was Moses; for That needed only a mere man, it not admitting of satisfaction, nor reconciliation, of mercy, nor pardon; Moses might serve as a Messenger to make known the mind of God unto the people. Deut. 5.5. I stood b • tween the Lord and you at that time, to show you the Word of the Lord; in the Natural Covenant, communion with God was natural unto man, and so there needed no Mediator. In the Legal Covenant, man was rather considered, as what he should be, than what he was; and so a mere man was able in the name of the people to promise obedience, and in the name of God to promise a reward, and this Moses did; you have both very plain in Deut. 5. The people do as it were say, Go to God from us upon this Errand; Ver. 27. Go thou n • ar, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say, and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee, and we will hear it, and do it; and God doth as it were say, Go, dismiss them with this blessing if they will be obedient: Ver. 28.29, 30. And the Lord heard the voice of your words when ye spake unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken unto thee, they have well said all that they have spoken; O that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me, and keep all my Commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children forever; Go say to them, Get you into your Tents again; q. d. If they will keep their promise, assure them I will keep mine, and thus much concerning the Covenant strictly Legal.

3. The third Covenant is the G • spel-Covenant, and here Beloved, here is (2 Sam. 23.5.) the Everlasting Coven • nt, ordered in all things, and sure; This is all our salvation, and all our desire: Here is the better Covenant, established upon better promises! But I must explain it, before I admire it: The Gospel Covenant is that whereby God upon the condition propounded of faith in Christ, promiseth remission of sins in his blood, and a heavenly life, and that for this end, that he might show forth the riches of his mercy .

Here I shall propose the same considerations as in the former Covenant, only still something more, and more comfortably considerable; in the consideration of the persons contracting, namely, God and man, according to the proposed method.

1. Consider God's gracious condescension. And now Beloved, that I have named God's gracious condescension, were my heart but duly affected with it, it would constrain me to stop, and put in a large Parenthesis of admiration before I should speak a word more. Will God after the loss of the natural communion, wherein he created man; will God, when man d • eads his Majesty, and trembles at his revenging justice; will God then as a merciful Father, enter into a Covenant of peace with poor undone sinners, affrighted with the sense of sin and wrath! O the incomprehensible • ondescention of such unsearchable riches of grace! that grace should abound according to sins abounding, when sin over-flow d all its banks; that God should make a way thorough the deep into the heavenly Canaan, never can we enough admire such Extasying grace! This is the first thing considerable.

2. The second thing considerable, is the duty which God requires in this Gospel Covenant, and that is Faith; faith whereby we embrace the remedy offered us: We want a pardon, and nothing but faith can receive it; we want perfect Righteousness, and nothing but faith can furnish us with it; we want that which may make this Covenant effectual to us, and make it a blessing to us, and nothing can do any of these things but faith; faith is the Antecedent Condition, for which the Reward is given.

3. The third thing considerable in the Gospel Covenant, is the promise: Now the promise of the Gospel Covenant is comprehended in the word Salvation; therefore the Gospel is called the salvation of God: Acts 28.28. And this is the great business of Christ to be a Savior; Isa. 49.6. That thou mayst be my salvation to the end of the earth; when the Angels preached the Gospel, they thought they could not express their news in better language, than to tell people of salvation; that must needs be great joy to all people. In short, when Gospel Ministers come clad with garments of salvation, as Heralds do with the garments of their Office, then Saints may well shout aloud for joy, Psal. 132.16. Now this promise of salvation contains all Gospel promises in it, but they are reduced to these four.

1. Justification; this is a privilege which other Covenants were unacquainted with; and without this what would become of poor sinful man? And this may well be the first great Gospel promise; I might name, not some Verses, but whole Chapters to prove it. Rom. 4. and 5. Gal. 3. and 4. but in a word, if you would know the preciousness of this promise, Ask those that have but felt what sin is, and they will tell you.

2. The second promise contained in Gospel salvation, is Sanctification. Rom. 8.2, 3, 4. The Law of the Sp • rit of life in Christ hath made me free from the Law of sin and death; for 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 righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit: q.d. The efficacy and power of the sanctifying Spirit which gives life to believers, frees us from the tyranny of sin and death; and whereas the Law by reason of the corruption of our nature, could not make us pure and perfect, but rather kindled than extinguished corruption; God hath clothed his Son with our flesh, to take away the guilt and power of sin, that his perfect righteousness might be imputed to us, and fulfill • d by us; that we might not live according to the motion of our sinful nature, but according to the motion of his holy Spirit.

3. The third promise, is the resurrection of the body: You know the penal • y of sin, is the death of soul and body; though the soul be immortal, yet its being miserable forever, may sadly be called an Eternal death: Now let the guilt of sin be abolished, and you do therewith abolish the punishment of it; for gu • lt is only an obligation to punishmen • ; let sin be pardoned, and the sinner is freed from death; and though believers die, yet it is as a corn of wheat falls into the ground, they thereby ob • ain a multiplied life. John 6.54. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drink • h my blood, hath Eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

4. The last promise is Eternal life, a spiritual, blessed, and immortal life in heaven. John 3.16. God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have Everlasting life: The Covenant of Grace is excellent fitted to bring us to the chiefest good: Now the chiefest good consists in communion with God; that was broken by sin, and can never be perfectly recovered, till sin be abolished; therefore when the guilt of sin is taken away by Justification; and the filthiness of sin is taken away by Sanctification; and the penalty of sin taken away by Resurrection; then, what can hinder our communion with God? when we have once obtained perfect holiness, nothing can hinder us of perfect happiness. Thus you have the promise of the Gospel-Covenant, which was the third considerable in it.

4. The fourth thing to be considered in the Gospel-Covenant, is the Mediator of this better Covenant, and that is Jesus Christ, God-man blessed forever, through his dignity he hath purchased salvation. Hebr. 9.12, 14. By his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained Eternal Redemption for us; how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, &c. And he is not only the Author of Eternal salvation by his merit and efficacy, but the most absolute example and pattern to us, how we should walk that we may obtain his purchased salvation. Rom. 8.29. God did predestinate us to be conformable to the Image of his Son, that he might be the first born among many brethren. 1 Cor. 15.49. And as we have born the Image of the Earthly, we shall also bear the Image of the heavenly. And this is the only Covenant whereof Christ is Mediator; the first Covenant needed no Mediator; the Old Covenant as Legal, take it without its sprinkling of Gospel, and so chiefly Moses, but in all respects mere men were Mediators; but of the New Covenant Christ was Mediator; but this I shall leave to be enlarged by another.

5. The fifth thing to be considered in the Gospel-Covenant, is the efficacy of it. I did not so much as mention the efficacy of the former Covenants; for there was never so much as any one made happy by them; 'tis sadly true, that the threatenings of punishment for the neglect of duty took hold of them; the threatenings seemed plainly to belong to the nature of those Covenants; but in the Gospel Covenant 'tis otherwise; for it is said, John 3.36. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 abides] which shows that the wrath was brought upon them by the violation of the former Covenant, he speaks as of that which was upon them already.

[But yet mistake not, as if refusing the Gospel were no sin, or not punished; they sin more grievously, that sin against Gospel love, than they that sin only against Legal goodness; but wrath doth not properly belong to the Essence of the Gospel.]

Thus you have the first thing I undertook, namely, the nature of the Covenant positively considered; the second is the comparative excellency of the New Covenant above others: I will be brief in showing its excellency above the Covenant of Works, more large in showing you how 'tis better than the Old Covenant of Grace.

[Only suppose, to prevent mistakes, that each Covenant is in its own kind most perfect, and most accommodated to the state of the people, and to the purposes for which they were instituted.

This premised:]

First, The New Covenant of Grace is better than the Covenant of Nature; I forbear to speak of the agreement and diff • rence of them, I shall speak only of the excellency of this better Covenant.

1. The Covenant of Works was a Declaration of God's Justice, than which nothing can be more terrible to a guilty sinner; but the Covenant of Grace is a Declaration of God's mercy in Christ, and let the overwhelmed conscience speak, is not this better?

2. The Foundation of the Covenant of Works, was the Creation of man, and the integrity of his nature; the Foundation of the Covenant of Grace, is man's Redemption by Jesus Christ.

3. The Promise of the Covenant of Works, was eternal life in Paradise; the Promise of the New Covenant, is eternal life in Heaven.

4. The Covenant of Works had no Mediator, no possibility of recovering the least slip; the New Covenant is ratified in the blood of the Son of God; 'tis composed on purpose for our relief : Thus the New Covenant is better than the Covenant of Works.

Secondly, The Gospel-Covenant is better than the Old Covenant of Grace. Beloved, you may observe, I do not say better than the Covenant strictly Legal; but better than the whole Dispensation which the Jews, and all other Believers lived under, before Christ's Incarnation; better than the Old Doctrine of spiritual grace delivered by Moses and the Prophets, openly promising Eternal life unto the Fathers; and the Dull people of the Jews, under the condition of perfect obedience to the Moral Law, together with the intolerable burdens of Legal rights, and yoke of most straight Mosaical policy; but covertly under the condition of repentance, and faith in the future Messiah, prefigured in the shadows and types of Ceremonies, that by this form of Divine worship and policy, a stiff-necked people might partly be tamed, and partly be brought to Christ, that lay hid under those Ceremonies. So that in short you see the Old Testament, or the Old Covenant, (for by a Metonymy they are chiefly one and the same thing; and the Apostle plainly so expresseth himself, 2 Cor. 3.14. Untill this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done away in Christ; and this) contains these three things.

1. The old kind of doctrine which was openly and principally Legal; covertly, and less principally, Evangelical.

2. The old way of worship, and Legal Priest-hood.

3. That Mosaical policy which was tied to one people .

This Covenant was made by God to Adam, presently after the fall, G n. 3.15. afterward to Abraham and his posterity, Gen. 17.1, 2, 7, 8. The symbol of this Covenant was circumcision; from verse 10. to the 14. I forbear further particularising to whom it was often renewed and confirmed, whereupon it is called the Covenants, Rom. 9.4. Ephes. 2.12. Now the New Covenant of Reconciliation to God by Christ exhibited in the flesh, is the better Covenant. The Gospel is the Table of the New Testament, longe divinio • quam smaragdina Hermetis, far beyond the Emerauld Table of Hermes, which the Chymists vainly boast to yield the Philosophers stone to enrich all persons; and the Panacea that cures all diseases; here's the elect and precious stone. 1 Pet. 2.6 . But I will come to particulars, only premising this Caution.

Let not anything I shall say be interpreted as if I put an hostile contrariety between the Old Covenant and the New; in spiritual practice they yield spiritual help to each other; Justin Martyr saith, that grace is not according to the Law, nor against the Law, but above the Law; therefore they are not adversa, but diversa; the Gospel in Scripture, is called the Law, Isa. 2.3. only 'tis the Law of faith, Rom. 3.27. and the Law of the Spirit, Rom. 8.2. therefore when we advance the Gospel, Rom. 3.31. do we then make void the Law through faith? God forbid, yea, we establish the Law. Gal. 3.21. Is the Law then against the promises of God? God forbid; for if there had been a Law given, which could have given life, v • rily righteousness should hav • been by the law.

The believers in the Old Testament, were saved by the free mercy of God in Christ. Heb. 9.15. He is the Mediator of the New Testament, and by means of death, for the Redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Testament, they which are called, might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. And their Sacraments and ours, sealed the same • hing, 1 Cor. 10.3, 4. They did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.

This premised, I shall now show you the excellency of the Gospel-Covenant.

1. The Gospel -Covenant is a better Covenant than the Legal, in respect of its Original, and manner of patefaction; 'tis true, they have both one principal efficient cause; but the Law may in some sort be known by nature; it was written in man's heart at the first, and the character is not wholly worn out; Rom. 2.15. The Gentiles show the work of the Law written in their hearts; but now the Gospel was immediately manifested from God to the Church alone. Joh. 1.18. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. Mat. 16.16, 17. And Simon Peter answered, and said, Thou art Christ the Son of the living God; and Jesus answered, and said unto him, Blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven; It so far transcends the capacity of human reason, that reason cannot so much as approve of it, when it was revealed, without inward illumination, and persuasion of the Holy Ghost; 1 Cor. 2.9, 10, 14, 15. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him; but God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God; but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned; but he that is spiritual, judgeth all things; and hereupon it is called the N • w Covenant; not in respect of the time, that it had no being before the incarnation of Christ, but in respect of the knowledge of it; the knowledge of the Legal Covenant was born with us, and it was fore-known to nature; but the Gospel-Covenant was who • lie new, revealed from the bosom of the Father, it was administered by new Officers, confirmed by new Sacraments, let into the hearts of people by new pourings out of the Spirit; therefore the Apostle prays, Ephes. 1.17, 18. That the God of o • r Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom, and revelation in the knowledge of him; the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints. God would never have instituted the Legal Covenant but for the Gospels sake, Galat. 3.24. Wher • fore the Law was our School-master to bring us unto Christ; The Law was a sharp School-master, by means whereof, the refractory and contumacious minds of the Jewish people might be tamed; for Rom. 10.4. Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to ev • ry one that believeth.

2. The Gospel -Covenant is better than the Legal, in respect of the manner of it; the Law was a Doctrine of works, commanding and prescribing what we should be, and what we should do; Gal. 3.12. And the Law is not of faith, but the man that doth them, shall live in them. But now the Gospel requires faith in Christ for righteousness and salvation. Rom. 3.21. But now the righteousness of God without the Law is manifested; therefore saith Augustine, faith obtains what the Law commands: we have no help from the Law ; the condition of the Law is simply impossible; it finds us sinners, and leaves no place for repentance ; and notwithstanding the sprinkling of Gospel that there was with the Law, yet it was but obscure. And that shall be the next particular.

3. The Gospel -Covenant is better than the Legal, in respect of the manner of holding forth Christ in it; though the Gospel is one and the same whereby all Saints are saved in all times; for there was not one way of salvation then, and another since. Acts 10.43. To him give all the Prophets witness, that through his Name, whosoever believeth in him, shall receive remission of sins. Yet the Doctrine of the Gospel was more obscure in the Old Testament; partly through Prophesies of things a great way off, and partly through types; Christ was wrapped up in shadows, and figures; in the Gospel, the body of those shadows, and the truth of those types is exhibited; the Land of Canaan was a type of heaven; Israel according to the flesh, was a type of Israel according to the Spirit; the spirit of bondage, of the spirit of Adoption; the blood of the Sacrifices, of the blood of Christ; the glory of divine grace was reserved for Christ's coming; they had at most but star-light before Christ's coming *. When Christ first came, it was but daybreak with them; Christ was at first but as a morning star, 2 Pet. 1.19. though soon after he was as the sun in the firmament, Mal. 4.2. The Apostle saith, Heb. 10.1. The Law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things; and in this respect it was that the Apostle saith, the Gospel was promised to the Fathers, but performed to us, Rom. 1.1, 2. It was hid to them, and revealed to us, Rom. 16.25, 26. and not only by fulfilling of Prophesies, which we may see by the comparing of Scripture, but by the Spirit, Ephes. 3.5. The mystery of Christ in other ages, was not made known unto the Sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy Apostles, and Prophets by the Spirit; They had but a poor discovery of Christ, but we have the riches of this mystery made known unto us, Col. 1.26, 27 . The old Covenant leads to Christ, but▪ 'tis a great way about; the Gospel Covenant goeth directly to him; their Ceremonies were numerous, b • rdensome, and obscure; those things that represent Christ to us, are few, easy, and clear .

4. The Gospel -Covenant is the better Covenant, in respect of the form of it, the promises are better promises; the promises of the Law are conditional, and require perfect obedience. Lev. 18.5. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, which if a man do, he shall live in them; the condition you see is impossible. Beloved, 'pray 'mistake not; there is express mention of eternal life in the Old Testament, Isa. 45.17. Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation; ye shall not be ashamed, nor confounded, world without end. Dan. 12.2. Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake; some to everl • sting life, and some to shame and everlasting contemp; and that the Law cannot save us, that is accidental, in respect of our d • filement with sin, and our weakness that we cannot fulfill the condition. Rom. 7.12. The law is holy, and the Commandment holy, and just, and good; and it is the Word of life. Acts 7.38. Who received the lively Oracles to give unto us; and the Apostle brings in Abraham and David for examples of Justification by faith, Rom. 4.6, 13. but yet their promises were chiefly temporal; we have the promise of temporal good things in the New Testament, as well as they in the Old, only with the exception of the Cross. Mark 19.29, 30. Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or fathers, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the Gospels, but he shall receive an hundred fold, now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; that was the exception, with persecution.

We have three notable advantages in our temporal promises, beyond what they had in theirs.

1. The Old Covenant had special promises of temporal good things in the Land of Canaan, for the preserving of their Mosaical policy, until the time of the Messiah to be born of that people; promises of long life, &c. The New Covenant hath promises of all good things necessary, without any such clog. All good works shall be rewarded, and he promiseth to give a present temporal reward, in part of payment. Eph. 6.8. Whatsoever good thing any man doth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free; and which is more, 1 Tim. 4.8. Godliness is profitable unto all, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.

2. The temporal good things promised in the Old Testament, were symbolical; they prefigured spiritual benefits by Christ; we have them without any such adjoined significations, Col. 2.17. They had a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ; They had a more sparing taste of heavenly good things in earthly benefits; we have a more straight and direct way unto eternal life.

3. Promises of temporal good things, were in the Old Covenant more frequent, in the New Covenant more rare; and this I name as their excellency, because they are thrown in, as mere additions to spiritual promises . Ma. 16.33. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you; this for temporal promises. And for spiritual promises, which are the best of the Gospel-Covenant; not only the conditions of those promises are more easy; for whereas it was, Do this and live, Gal. 3.15. now it is, Believe, and thou shalt not come into condemnation , Joh. 3.18. but the condition is also promised, Jer. 31.34. I will make a New Covenant with the House of Israel, and with the House of Judah; not according to the Covenant, that I made with their Fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the Land of Egypt, which my C • venant they brake, although I was an Husband unto them, saith the Lord; but this shall be the Covenant that I will make with the House of Israel; after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law into their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people, and they shall teach no more every man his Neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall know me, from the least of th • m unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more. God's hearty good will is herein manifested. Jer. 32.41. I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredl • , with my whole heart, and with my whole soul. If you say, these are Old -Testament promises, and belonged to them to whom they were spoken, and were not only Prophetical, so as to concern another people , I grant it. Rom. 3.19. We know that what things soever the Law saith, it saith to them who are under the Law. But they had not that efficacy of the Spirit to make these promises so effectual, as was Prophesied and promised, for the times of the Gospel ; Joel 2.28. And it shall come to pass afterwards; mark that, afterwards, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, &c. The measure of the Spirit which they did receive, tended mostly to bondage, Gal. 4.24, 25. but the Spirit is to us a Spirit of Adoption, Rom. 8.15. And therefore the Gospel is specially called the Word of God's grace, Acts 20.32. as if all the grace that God had formerly expressed, had been nothing in comparison of this. Rom. 6.14. Ye are not under the Law, but under grace; Law and grace, are opposed as condemnation and mercy; thus the Gospel is the better Covenant, in respect of the promises of it.

5. The Gospel is the better Covenant, in respect of the effects of it; the Old Covenant shows us sin, doth accuse us, and declares us guilty before the judgment of God. Rom. 3.19, 20. That every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God; therefore by the deeds of the Law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for by the Law is the knowledge of sin. It subjects us under the curse, and condemneth sinners, for the transgressing of God's commands. Deut. 27.26. Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this Law to do them: and all the people shall say Amen. So Gal. 3.10. it is the ministry of death, 2 Cor. 3.6, 7. but now the Gospel that proclaims pardon of sin, and lifts up with quickening consolation, Isa. 61.1, 2. in the Law God is considered as reproving sin, and approving righteousness; in the Gospel, as remitting sin, and repairing righteousness; and therefore the Word of the Gospel is called good seed, Mat. 13.3. The seed of Regeneration, 1 Pet. 1.23. The Word of Reconciliation, 2 Cor. 5.18, 19. The Ministration of the Spirit, Gal. 3.2. The Word of faith, Rom. 10.8. The Word of life, Phil. 2.16. The power of God, Rom. 1.16. That whereby the righteousness of God is manifest, Rom. 3.21. The destruction of unbelievers is not the end of the Gospel; but that is through their own fault, eventus adventitius, an accidental event. God abundantly declares in the Gospel, that he delights not in the death of sinners, but in the saving translation of them by faith and repentance, from the power of darkness, into the Kingdom of his dear Son. The best effect of the Legal Covenant, is the bringing man into the Gospel -Covenant; and 'pray 'observe, how, when it is most effectual, it turns over the sinner to the Better Covenant.

1. It discovers sin to us. Rom. 7.7. I had not known sin but by the Law; but wherefore is it that we know sin at all? that we might be compelled to seek reparation in the Gospel-Covenant. Gal. 3.21, 22. The Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise of faith in Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.

2. The Old Covenant restrains sin; there is a natural stupidnesse in men's consciences; but then when the dreadful threatenings of the Law still sound in their ears, man is somewhat affrighted, and hath some reluctancy, though afterwards the Law of the mind is led captive by the Law of the members, and man forbears sin, as having a bridle put upon him; Ringente interim, & intus tumultuante appetitu corrupto; though he be restrained from sin, yet it is but a kind of coactior; it ends best, when it ends in a spontaneous and voluntary inclination of the mind to forsake sin, and hate it, and that is the work of the Gosp • l -Covenant.

3. The Old Covenant works fear; when sin hath been committed, and the raging of the affections are a little appeased, then the mind returns unto its self, and the Spirit that was resisted, brings to remembrance those grievous and unavoidabl • threanings which the Law denounceth, whereupon there follows 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a Legal repentance; that is, a wishing that the Fact were undone, and that he had not committed the sin that causeth that trouble; but not that he is any better than before; for show him a new temptation, and he presently runs after it, though under trouble of mind, and though expectation of wrath, incredibly full of anguish, doth sting and vex him intolerably. But now Beloved, where this ends well, there the Spirit insinuates something to put him upon panting after a Redeemer, and to get power against sin, and this brings unspeakable joy, and begets peace past all understanding; thus you see the best effects of the Law is the bringing men to the Gospel, which shows the fifth excellency of the Gospel-Covenant.

6. The Gospel-Covenant is the better Covenant, in respect of its objects or persons taken into Covenant, and that under a double consideration, their multiplicity, and their quality.

1. In respect of the number: The Old Covenant belonged only to one people; the New, to Jews and Gentiles; Abraham and his posterity were taken into Covenant, and all the world beside were excluded; those few others that were admitted, it was by extraordinary grace, and they were as it were planted into Abraham's family; but now the partition Wall is broken down, which as it were, shut up the mercy of God in the confines of Israel: Now peace is proclaimed to those that are far off, as well as to those that are near, that they might become one people; this is a great mystery, Colos. 1.26. Certainly all may well say so, as we are poor Gentiles, and we are made nigh by the blood of his Cross, Col. 1.20, 21.

2. The Gospel-Covenant is better in respect of the quality of the persons taken into it; the Law is proposed to wicked, secure, and hardened sinners. 1 Tim. 1.9. The Law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless, and disobedient, for ungodly, and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers, and murd • rers of mothers, for men-slayers, for whoremongers, &c. to restrain and bridle them; but the Gospel lifts up broken-hearted sinners. Luk. 4.18. He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord: The Law is to terrify the conscience, the Gospel is to comfort it .

7. The last excellency I shall name, is this, the Gospel-Covenant is every way faultless, it is the last and best Dispensation of Divine grace. Hebr. 8.7. If the first Covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second; as if he should say, the Covenant from Mount Sinai was not such, Quo non alterum posset esse perfectius ; that man could not desire a better. Hebr. 7.18, 19. There is verily a disannulling of the Commandment going before, for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof, for the Law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did, by the which we draw nigh unto God; plainly, this is so excellent, we cannot desire a better.

The Old Covenant is abrogated:

1. As to the circumstance, de futuro, it all related to the future Messiah; Christ is come, and that consideration therefore ceaseth.

2. 'It is abrogated as to the impossible condition of perfect obedience; the Gospel sincerity of the meanest believer, is better than the exactest obedience of the highest Legalist.

3. 'It is abrogated as to the burden of Legal Ceremonies, Priesthood and shadows; God gave these things to them, and the Gospel to us, as we give ( nuces parvulo, & codicem grandi ;) things of smaller value to a little child, but a good book to him when he is grown up. They have lost their Temple, their Priesthood, their Unction; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , &c. We have Heaven for our Temple, and Christ for our Priest, and the Spirit for our Unction.

4. The Old Covenant is abrogated as to the yoke of Mosaical policy; we have nothing to do with the Judicial Laws of the Jews, any farther than they are Moral, or of a Moral equity: Luk. 16.16. The Law and the Prophets were until John. Hebr. 7.12. The Priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change of the Law: And thus I have doctrinally shown you the excellency of the Gospel-Covenant.

THE Mediator OF THE COVENANT, Described in his Person, Natures, and Offices.

COmmunion with God is our only happiness; 'tis the very heaven of heaven, and 'tis the beginning of heaven here on earth. The only foundation of this communion, is the Covenant of Grace; and 'tis the great excellency of this Covenant of Grace, that 'tis Established in such a Mediator, even Jesus Christ. And one Mediator between, &c.

This Epistle (as ot the substance and main design of it) is a short directory unto Timothy, how he might faithfully discharge that great Office to which the Lord had called him in the Church of Ephesus. In the first Chapter, he instructs him concerning the doctrine he should Preach. In this Chapter concerning the persons for whom he should pray.

• 1. More generally. For all men, ver. 1. i. e. men of all ranks, conditions, and Nations in the world.
• 2. Particularly, and especially for Magistrates, ver. 2.

The Magistrates of those times, were not only Pagans, but Persecutors; strangers to Christ themselves, and enemies to everything of Christ in others, yet pray for them. There are indeed some persons, whom Christ leaves out of his prayers, Joh. 17.9. and would have us leave o • t of ours, 1 John 5.16. But yet thus far we may and ought to pray for all men, the worst of men, that the Lord would either make them truly good, or else restrain them from doing evil; that he would either show mercy to them in their own souls, or else keep them from being instruments of mischief unto others. That under them, you may lead a quiet and peaceable life, in all Godliness and Honesty.

The encouragements unto prayer in this extent, are,

1. The good will of God to all men, ver. 4. i. e. men of all ranks and degrees; for though God by his preceptive Will commands every individual man in the world, to mind his salvation, Acts 17.30. and by his approving Will, delights in saving lost creatures; nay, though he vouchsafe to all men, so much grace as will leave them inexcusable in their neglect of salvation: yet can we not from hence stretch the grace of God into that unlimited and boundless universality, as the Pelagians do from this Scripture; for did God peremptorily and determinately Will the salvation of every particular person in the world, man's stubbornness could not be too strong for God, nor could our impotency resist his Omnipotent Will.

2. The Mediation of Christ, which lies open to all men to make use of; as God is not the God of Jews only, but of the Gentiles also, Rom. 3.29, 30. so is Christ a Mediator for all. And one Mediator, &c.

In the words

• 1. The only way of friendly intercourse between God and man, 'tis through a Mediator.
• 2. The only Mediator between God and man, one Mediator, the Man Christ Jesus.

1. The only way of friendly intercrouse between God and man, 'tis through a Mediator; that's implied. Whether man in the state of innocence needed a Mediator, is disputed among persons learned and sober; but in his lapsed state, this need is acknowledged by all. God cannot now look upon men out of a Mediator, but as Rebels, Traitors, as fit objects for his Vindictive wrath. Nor can men now look up to God but as a provoked Majesty, an angry Judge, a consuming fire. And therefore were not it for a Mediator, ( i. e. a middle person interposing between God and us who are at variance, to procure reconciliation and friendship, as the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 imports) we could not but so dread the presence of this God, that like our first Parents (in that dark interval 'twixt their sinning, and the succor of that promise, Gen. 3.15.) we should have endeavored to hide ourselves what we could from the presence of the Lord.

2. The only Mediator between God and men. One Mediator, i. e. but one. Papists acknowledge one Mediator of reconciliation, but contend for many of intercession. But as God (in the former part of this verse) is said to be one God by way of exclusion of all others; so is Christ said here to be one Mediator, i. e. but one.

This Mediator is here described partly by

• His Nature, The man.
• His Names, Christ Jesus.

1. His Nature, the man, i. e. that eminent man; so some; he that was made man; so others.

Object. But why is this Mediator mentioned in this Nature only?

Answ. 1. Negatively: Not by w • y of diminution, as if he were not God as well as man, as the Arians argue from this Scripture; nor as if the execution of his Mediatorship, were either only, or chiefly in his human Nature, as some of the Papists affirm, though others of them deny; as Cornel. A Lap. in loc. asserting Christ's Mediatorship secundum utram{que} naturam, according to both Natures.

2. Positively, to prove that Jesus Christ was the true Messiah whom the Prophets foretold, the Fathers expected, and who had in that Nature been so frequently promised; as in the first Gospel that ever was preached, Gen. 3.15. he is promised as the seed of the Woman. Besides, the Apostle mentions Christ in this Nature, only as an encouragement to that duty of Prayer he had before persuaded; to the like purpose he is mentioned in this nature only, Heb. 4.14, 15, 16.

2. His Names,

• Christ. Jesus, this was his proper Name;
• Jesus. Christ, his appellative Name.

Jesus; that denotes the work and business for which he came into the world, as appears from the reason which the Angel (that came from heaven as an Herald to proclaim his incarnate • on) gives of the imposition of this Name. Thou shalt call his Name J • sus, f • r he shall save his people from their sins. This Name, though it be given to others in Scripture, yet to him eminently; to them as types of that complete Savior who should come after them, and save his people from their sins.

Christ; that denotes the several Offices, in the exercise whereof he executes this work of salvation. Christ in the Greek, being the same with Messiah in the Hebrew; i. e. anointed. Under the Law, the solemn ordination, or setting apart both of things and persons to special services, was by anointing; thus we read of three sorts of persons anointed, Kings, Priests, Prophets; and in respect of all these Offices, Jesus is called Christ.

From the words thus briefly explained, arise these two Observations.

1. That there is now no other way of friendly communion between God and man, but through a Mediator.

2. That there is no other Mediator between God and man, but Jesus Christ.

Doctr. 1. That there is now no other way of friendly communion between God and man, but through a Mediator; and indeed considering what God is, and withal what man is; how vastly disproportionable, how unspeakably unsuitable our very natures are to his, how is it possible there should be any sweet communion betwixt them, who are not only so infinitely distant, but so extremely contrary. God is holy, but we are sinful; in him is nothing but light, in us nothing but darkness; in him nothing that's evil, in us nothing that's good; he is all beauty, we nothing but deformity; he is justice, and we gui • tinesse; he a consuming fire, and we but dried stubble; in a word, he an infini • ely and incomprehensibly glorious Majesty, and we poor sinful dust and ashes; who have sunk and debased ourselves by sin, below the meanest rank of creatures, and made ourselves the burden of the whole Creation; and can there be any communion, any friendship between such? Can too walk together, except they be agreed? And what agreement can there ever be but through a Mediator?

If ever God be reconciled to us, it must be through a Mediator; because of that indispensible necessity of satisfaction, and our inability to make it.

If ever we be reconciled to God, it must be through a Mediator, because of that radicated enmity that is in our natures to everything of God, and our impotency to it; and thus in both respects, that God may be willing to be a friend to us, and that we may not be unwilling to be friends to him, there needs a Mediator, 2 Cor. 5.19. compared with Joh. 14.6.

Doctr. 2. That there's no other Mediator between God and man but Jesus Christ. And one Mediator, i. e. but one. The fondness of Papists in their multiplicity of Mediators, not only unto God, but to our Mediator himself, having no other foundation than only their superstition, cannot be of moment with them, who labor to be wise according to Scripture. That those members of the Church who are contemporary here on earth, do indeed pray for one another, cannot be denied; but that they are therefore Mediators of Intercession, hath been denied by the more Antient Papists themselves. This Title of Mediator, is throughout the New Testament appropriated unto Christ, Heb. 8.6. H • b. 9.15 Heb. 12.24. and indeed there's none else fit for so high a work as this, but only he.

Resol. 1. The singular suitableness of his person to this eminent employment. To interpose as a Mediator betwixt God and men, was an employment above the capacity of men, Angels, or any creature; but Jesus Christ in respect of the dignity of his person, was every way suited for this work. Which you may take in these four particulars.

1. That he was truly God, equal with the Father, of the same nature and substance; not only 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , of the like nature, but of the same nature, as is excellently cleared by that famous Champion for the Deity of Christ against the Arians, Athanasius. Col. 2.9. In him dwelleth the fullness of the God-head bodily; 'tis not the fullness of the Divinity, but of the Deity; thereby intimating an identity of essence with God the Father, and holy Ghost. Though the Divine essence be after a several manner in the several Persons of the blessed Trinity; in the Father 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 without receiving it from any other; in the Son by an eternal generation; and in the holy Ghost by proceeding: yet 'tis the same essence of God, that is in all three persons; because such is the infinite simplicity of this essence, that it cannot be divided or parcelled. Thus Christ (not to speak anything concerning the other persons) is styled so the Son of God, as one equal with the Father; for upon this it is that the Jews ground their charge of blasphemy against him, that he said God was his Father, making himself equal with God, Joh. 5.18. The force of their reason lies in this; the natural Son of God is truly God, and equal with God; as the natural son of man is man, equal, and of the same substance with his father. Angels and men are the Sons of God by Adoption, but Christ is the natural Son of God, the only Son of God, and therefore truly God. I and my Father are one, Joh. 10.30. he thought it no robbery to be equal with God, Phil. 2.6. For the further confirmation of this, take these Arguments.

1. He whom Scripture honors with all those Names which a • e peculiar unto God, must needs be God. That Christ hath these Names ascribed to him, appears from these instances. He is not only styled God, the Word was God, Joh. 1.1. but God with such additional discrimination • , 〈◊〉 neither Magistrates (who because they are God's Depu • ies and Vicegerents here on earth, are sometimes called God's) nor a • y creature is capable of. The great God, Tit. 2.13. The true God, 1 Joh. 5.20. The mighty God, Isa. 9.6. Over all, God blessed forever, Rom. 9.5. The Lord of glory, 1 Cor. 2.8. The Lord from heaven, 1 Cor. 15.48. Yea, that great Name Jehovah the Lord (or Jehovah) our righteousness, Jer. 23.6.

2. He in whom are those high and eminent perfections, those glorious attributes, of which no c • eature is capable, must needs be more than a creature, and consequently God.

1. He that is Omnipotent, whose power is boundless and unlimited, must needs be God. The highest power of creatures hath its non ultra, Thus far may it • o, but no further; but Christ is said to be Almighty, Rev. 1.8. The Lord God Omnipotent, Rev. 19.6.

2. He that is Omniscient, that searcheth hearts, that hath a window into every man's breast, that can look into all the rooms and corners of our souls, that can see through all those Veils and coverings, which no creature-eye can pierce, must needs be God; and these are the excellencies ascribed to Christ. He needed not that any should testify of man, because he knew what was in man, Joh. 2.25. I am he which searcheth the heart and reins, Rev. 2.23. He knew their thoughts, Luke 6.8. so Mark 2.8. Joh. 13.19, &c.

3. He that fills heaven and earth, and all places with his presence, must needs be God; and thus was Christ in heaven, while he was on earth. The Son of man which is in heaven, Joh. 3.13. That where I am, Joh. 14.3. Christ as God, was then in heaven, when as man, he was on earth. So as God he is still on earth, though as man he sits at the right hand of God in heaven. I will be with you to the end of the world, Matthew 28.20.

4. He that is immutable and eternal, must needs be God. The heavens are the work of thy hands; they shall perish, but thou shalt endure, &c. but thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end, Psal. 102.25, 26, 27. so is Christ the everlasting Father, Isa. 9.6. The same yesterdy, today, and forever, Heb. 13.8.

5. He that hath life in himself, and is the fountain of life to others, must needs be God; and thus is Christ the Prince of life to others, Acts 3.15. and hath life in himself, Joh. 5.26.

3. He to whom those works of infiniteness are ascribed, to which no less a power is sufficient than that of Omnipotency, he must needs be more than a creature. He that laid the foundation of the earth, that by a word commanded all things out of nothing, that preserves them from mouldering, and sinking into their first nothing again; that could pardon sin, destroy him that had power of death, subdue principalities and powers, Redeem his Church, carry his people triumphing into heaven; he must needs be God. And all these works of infiniteness are ascribed to Christ; the work of Creation, Without him was nothing made of all that was made, Joh. 1.3. Of conservation, Upholding all things by the Word of his power, Heb. 1.3. of redemption, which he purchased with his blood, Acts 20.28.

4. He whom Angels adore, before whom the highest and best of creatures fall down, giving that worship which is peculiarly due to God, must needs be more than a creature; and thus it is to Christ. Let all the Angels of God worship him, Heb. 1.6. so Mat. 2.11.

I might add the equality of Christ in all those solemn benedictions and praises upon Record in the New Testament; all which argue strongly, that he must needs be truly God.

2. As he is truly God, so is he complete and perfect man; having not only an human body, but a rational soul; and in all things was like to us, sin only excepted.

That he had a real, not an imaginary body, appears from the whole story of the Gospel. He that was conceived, born, circumcised, was hungered, athirst, sweet drops of blood, was crucified; he that went from place to place, and had all those sinless affections, which are proper unto bodies: had a true and real body; and such was the body of Christ.

That he had an human soul, is clear also from the story of the Gospel. He that grew in wisdom and knowledge, as 'tis said of Christ, Luke 1.80. Luke 2.40. he whose knowledge was bounded and limited, as was also said of Christ. Of that day, and that hour knoweth no man; no not the Angels, neither the Son of man, but the Father, Mark 13.32. As God he knew all things; as man, his knowledge was but the knowledge of a creature, and therefore finite; all which argue he had a human soul, as well as body, and was complete man. The whole Nature of man was corrupted, destroyed, and therefore 'twas needful Christ should take upon him whole man, that the whole might be repaired and saved.

3. He is God and man in one person. He had two Natures, but was but one person: there was a twofold substance, divine and human; but not a twofold subsistence; for the personal being which the Son of God had before all worlds, suffered not the substance to be personal which he took, although together with the Nature which he had, the Nature which he took continue forever; thus both Natures make but one Christ. He was the Son of God, and the Son of man, yet not two Sons, but one person. He was born of God, and born of a Virgin, but 'tis in respect of his different Natures. Thus was Christ David's Son, and David's Lord; Mary's Son, and Mary's Savior and Maker too.

By the right understanding of this, we may be very much helped in reconciling those seeming contradictions, which frequently occur in Scripture concerning Christ. He is said to be born of a woman, and yet to be without beginning of days; himself says his Father is greater than he, and yet he is said to be equal with the Father. All which may be cleared by this. He was but one person; and therefore as in man, who consists of soul and body, the actions of each part are ascribed to the person: the man is said to understand; 'tis not his body, but soul that understands; yet this is ascribed to the person, though it be but the formal act of one part: so in regard of this hypostatical union of two Natures in one person, the acts of each Nature are ascribed to the person. Thus 'tis said the Jews c • ucified the Lord of glory, 1 Cor. 2.8. i. e. they crucified that person who was the Lord of glory. Acts 20.28. God is said to purchase his Church by his blood; as God he could not shed his blood, but 'twas that person who was God. Thus is Christ said to be in heaven, when he was on earth; i. e. as God, he was in heaven. And so what is proper to each nature by reason of the hypostatical union, is ascribed to the whole person.

4. This union of two natures in one person, is without confusion or transmutation; the natures remaining distinct, and the properties and operations of both natures distinct, notwithstanding this union. Some things are proper to the Godhead, of which the Manhood is uncapable; and some things proper to the Manhood, of which the Godhead is uncapable: We cannot say the Godhead was athirst, weary, died; neither can we say the Manhood was the Fountain of all being, the Creator and Preserver of all things; or that it is ubiquitary or omnipresent, though we may say all of the same person. 'It is observed by learned Writers, that the dividing of the person which is but one, and the confounding of the natures which are two, hath occasioned those grand Errors in this Article of faith, by which the peace of the Church hath been so much disturbed. And suitably to these four heads that have been spoken to, there have arisen four several heresies.

1. The Arians, denying the Deity of Christ, against whom the Council of Nice Determined that he was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , truly God.

2. The Apollinarians, who maimed and misinterpreted his human nature, against whom the Council of Constantinople Determined that he was complete and perfect Man.

3. The Nestorians, who divided Christ into two persons, because of his two natures, against whom the Council of Ephesus Determined that he was God-man in one person.

4. The Eutichians, who confounded these two natures in one person, against whom the Council of Chalcedon Determined that he was God-man in one person without confusion or mutation of natures.

But in the four above-named heads enough hath been said by way of Antidote against those dangerous mistakes. And all being duly considered, we cannot but see great reason why he should be called wonderful, Isa. 9.6. Well might the Apostle cry out by way of admiration, Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest in the flesh, 1 Tim. 3.16.

5. The singular fitness of Christ for this work of Mediation, arises from his being God-man in two natures, united in one person without Confusion or Transmutation.

1. Had he not been truly God, he had been too mean a person for so high an employment; it was God that had been offended, an infinite Majesty that had been despised. The person therefore interposing must have some equality with him to whom he interposes. Had the whole society of persevering Angels interposed on man's behalf, it had been to little purpose; one Christ was infinitely more than all, and that because he was truly God.

2. Had he not been completely man, he had been no way capable of performing that indispensibly necessary condition, upon which God was willing to be reconciled; viz. The satisfying of that righteous sentence God had pronounced. Gen. 2.17. In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. That therefore he might be capable of dying, (which as God he could not) and that the justice of God might be satisfied in the same nature by which it had been offended, 'twas necessary he should be man.

3. Had he not been God and man in one person, the sufferings of his human nature could not have derived that infinite value from the Divine nature. We could not have called his blood the blood of God, (as 'tis called Acts 20.28.) it would have been no more than the blood of a creature, and consequently as unavailable as the blood of Bulls, &c. Hebr. 9.12. Hebr. 10.4.

4. Had he not been God-man without confusion of natures; his Deity might either have advanced his humanity, above the capacity of suffering; or his humanity might have debased his Deity below the capability of meriting, which is no less than blasphemy to ima • ine. And this is the first reason, the singular fitness of Christ for this work, because of the Dignity of his person.

Reason 2. The singular fitness of Christ for this employment in respect of the suitableness of his Offices. There is a threefold misery upon all men, or a threefold bar to communion with God.

1. The guilt of their sins which themselves are never able to expiate, or satisfy for.

2. The blindness of their minds, the cure whereof is too difficult for any creature Physician.

3. Their bondage and captivity to sin and Satan, which are enemies too strong for man to deal with. Sutably to these three great necessities, Jesus Christ is anointed of God to a threefold Office, of a Priest, a Prophet, a King; the former of which Offices he exercises on our behalf to God, and the two last, from God to us.

1. The Priestly Office of Christ is the great, the only relief we have against the guilt of sin; the work of the Priesthood consisted under the Law, chiefly of these two parts.

• 1. Satisfaction for the sins of the people. Lev. 4.16, 17, 18, 19, &c.
• 2. Intercession unto God on their behalf, Levite. 16.12, 13.

Both which were verified in Christ our great high Priest, Hebr. 4.14. And hence it is that the Apostle encourages us to come with boldness unto the Throne of Grace, Hebr. 4.16. What was done by others Typically, was done by Christ Really.

1. His satisfaction in discharging those debts which his people had run into with Divine justice to the utmost farthing, and this he did by offering up that one single sacrifice which was infinitely more worth than all those multitudes of sacrifices offered up of old, and from which all former sacrifices had their virtue and efficacy. The Priests of old offered up creatures, but this high Priest offers up himself; they offered the blood of Bullocks, &c. Hebr. 9.13, 14. but Christ the blood of God, Acts 20.28. They offered many sacrifices, and Christ but one, but such a one as infinitely exceeded all their many; such a one as perfected forever them that are sanctified, Hebr. 10.14. One Sun is worth more than thousands of Stars, and one Jewel than millions of ordinary stones; and so one Christ is more effectual than all Lebanon, or the cattle on a thousand hills.

2. His intercession; this is the other part of his Priestly Office; his satisfaction, that was performed on earth; his Intercession is performed chiefly in heaven: by the former he purchased pardon and Reconciliation, 2 Cor. 5.19. compared with Verse 21. by the latter he applies the benefits he hath purchased; his sufferings, though they were but while he was on earth, yet the benefit of them extends to all ages of the Church, both before and since his passion; and his Intercession is that which sues out these blessings for his people; and therefore that great Apostle joins both together as the foundation of all his comfort, Rom. 8.33. Christ hath died, who still makes Intercession; and both these are so full, so sufficient a relief against the guilt of sin, that as we have no other, so we need no other; as the High Priests bore the names of the people before the Lord, so does Jesus Christ the names of his Elect; but the High Priests of Old, were at certain times only to appear before the Lord, once a year to enter into the holy place; but Christ our spiritual High Priest, is not only entered, but sat down at the right hand of God, to negotiate constantly on his Churches behalf; He ever lives to make Intercession, Heb. 11:25. And besides the constancy, consider the prevalency of his Intercession; that God that regards the cry of Ravens, that will not altogether neglect the humiliation of Ahab, that God that is so ready to answer and honor the prayers of his own people, cannot but much more regard the prayers of his only Son, praying by his blood, and praying for nothing more than what himself hath deserved and purchased. He that is such a great High Priest, is excellently fitted in respect of this Office, for the work of Mediation.

2. The Prophetical Office of Christ, is the great, the only relief we have against the blindness and ignorance of our minds. He is that great Prophet of his Church whom Moses fore-told, the Jews expected, and all men needed; that Sun of Righteousness, who by his glorious beams dispels those mists of ignorance and error, which darken the minds of men, and is therefore styled by way of eminency, that light, John 1.8. and the true light, Joh. 1.9.

The execution of this Prophetical Office, is partly by revealing so much of the Will of God as was necessary to our salvation, partly by making those revelations powerful and effectual.

1. In revealing the Will of God; for no man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him, Joh. 1.18. The manner of revealing the mind of God, hath been different in several ages.

1. Sometimes making use of instruments; who were either ordinary; as under the Law, the Priests whose lips should preserve knowledge; and under the Gospel, Pastors and Teachers: Or else extraordinary; as Prophets under the Law; and Apostles, and Evangelists, in the first plantation of the Gospel.

2. For sometime instructing his Church immediately in his own person, Heb. 1.1, 2.

2. In enlightening effectually the souls of his people: in causing the blind to see, and making them who were once darkness, to be light in the Lord, Eph. 5.2. Thus he instructs by his Word, and by his Spirit, 1 Pet. 1.12. and by that Sovereignty he hath over the hearts of men, opens their hearts to receive his counsels. He that can thus speak, not only to the ear, but to the heart, is also in this Office, excellently fitted for the work of Mediation.

3. The Kingly Office of Christ, is the great, the only relief we have against our bondage to sin and Satan. He to whom all power is given in heaven, and in earth, Mat. 28.18. He whom God hath raised from the dead, and set at his own right hand in heavenly places, far above all principality and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the Head over all things to the Church: It is he that restores liberty to the captives, and opens the Prison doors to them that are bound. This great Office of a King, he executes chiefly in these Royal acts.

1. In gathering to himself a people out of all kindreds, Nations and tongues; and in making them a willing people in the day of his power, Psal. 110.3.

2. In governing that people by Laws, Officers, and Censures of his own ordaining, Isaiah 33.22. Ephes. 4.11, 12. Mat. 18.17, 18.

3. In bringing all his elect into a state of saving grace, and preserving that grace alive in their souls, which himself hath wrought, though it be as a spark of fire in an Ocean of water, in carrying it on to perfection, and crowning it with glory.

4. In restraining, over-ruling, and at last destroying all his and his Churches enemies, Psalm 110.1. those who will not submit to the Scepter of his grace, he rules with his Iron rod, and will at last dash them in pieces like a Potters Vessel, Psal. 2.9.

And thus is Christ not only in respect of the dignity of his person, but the suitableness of his Offices, the only fit Mediator between God and man.

The doctrinal part of this Scripture being thus cleared, take one word by way of application.

Use. This may inform us of the unspeakable folly and misery of all such as despise this Mediator; there is but one Mediator, but one way of Reconciliation unto God, but one way of having sin pardoned, our natures cleansed, the favor of God restored, our lost condition recovered, and that is through the Mediation of Christ; and shall it be said of any of us? as Christ himself speaks of those foolishly obstinate Jews, they would not come unto him, that they might have life, Joh. 5.40. There is in Christ the life of Justification, to free us from that eternal death the Law sentences us unto; the life of sanctification to free us from that spiritual death we are under by nature; there is in him a sufficient relief against whatever is discouraging; and shall we be so little our own friends, so false to our own concernments, as to reject his proffered help, notwithstanding we do so highly need it?

1. In rejecting this Mediator, you sin against the highest and greatest mercy that ever was vouchsafed to creatures; 'tis mentioned as an astonishing act of love in God, that he should so love the world, as to give his only begotten Son, &c. Joh. 3.16. so] beyond all comparison, so] beyond all expression; and oh what an amazing condescension was it in Christ, who though he th • ught it no robbery to be equal with God, was yet pleased to make himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, became obedi • nt unto death, even the death of the cross; and all this as our Mediator? there is not any mercy we enjoy, but 'tis the fruit of this mercy.

2. You hereby read your condition, the same with Pagans; the emphasis of whose misery, consists in this, that they are without Christ, and therefore without hope. Nay, the same with Devils, who have no Mediator interposing on their behalf to God; but as they sin'd with a Tempter, so they perish without a Savior; this is their misery, and shall this be any of our choice?

3. Your condition is hereby rendered in this respect worse than theirs, in that you despise that mercy which they were never proffered.

The danger of this sin, you may find awakeningly set down by the Apostle, Hebrews 2.3. Hebr. 10.28, 29, 30. Hebrews 12.25.

Use. Be persuaded then to make use of Christ in all his Offices, in whom you have an universal antidote against all discouragements.

Are your consciences alarm'd with the thunder of Scripture-threats, and curses of the Law, fly to that blood of sprinkling, the voice whereof is much louder than the cry of your sins.

Are you stung with the sense of your corruptions, look up to Christ as your Brazen Serpent, that he may cure these wounds and deliver you from death.

Are you discouraged from prayer, because your prayers have hitherto been so sinfully defective? consider the Intercession of Christ, and take encouragement from thence.

Are you afflicted with your own unteachablenesse? look up to him as the great Prophet sent of God, and beg of him the inward and effectual teachings of his Spirit, and he would speak as powerfully in his Word to your dead hearts, as he once spoke to dead Lazarus.

Are you disquieted with doubts and fears, in respect of your own perseverance? though temptations are boisterous, and corruptions violent, look up to him who sits at the right hand, till all his enemies become his foot-stool, that he would strengthen you.

Are you full of fears because of Zion, the afflictions, dangers, enemies of the Church? remember he is the Head over all things to the Church.

In a word, whatever your afflictions or troubles are, the Mediation of Christ is a sufficient relief; and therefore sit not down dejectedly mouring, like Hagar weeping at the fountain side.

OF CHRIST'S Humiliation.

THis Chapter begins with one of the most pathetical and powerfully pressed Exhortations that we meet with in the whole Scripture: The Apostle is in one of his high streins and raptures of Rhetoric, conjuring the Philipians (as it were) by all that they accounted dear and precious, unto brotherly unity and amity, and to this end, to humility of mind, and a mutual condescension. He that will lift up, and embrace another that is fallen, must himself stoop down; and because men are rather drawn by example, than driven by precept, he propounds to them a pattern beyond all parallel: Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus; who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, &c. As if he had said, Jesus Christ was as high as the highest, coequal with God, it was his right to stand upon even ground with his Father, and without any wrong to him might have pleaded his Peerage, and yet he strangely humbled, and abased himself; here is your Copy. How lowly should Christians be? seeing humanity, the form of a servant, nay, death itself were not accounted too low for their Lord; Christ himself hath just such another Argument; John 13.14. If I your Lord and Master have washed your feet, ye ought also to wash one another's feet. Let no Christian stand upon his pantofles, seeing Christ humbled himself, and became obedient to death, the death of the Cross.

In which words we have,

• 1. The depth of Christ's humiliation:
  • 1. Specified, death.
  • 2. Aggravated, even the death of the Cross.
• 2. The Manner of his humiliation, where we may note these two remarkable circumstances.
  • 1. His voluntariness, he humbled himself.
  • 2. His obedience, he became obedient unto death.

The Scripture hath observed to us these three special steps of Christ's humiliation.

• 1. He stoopit down to become a man.
• 2. He condescended to put his neck under the yoke of the Law.
• 3. He appeared in the likeness of sinful flesh.

1. He stoopit down to become a man; he left the warm bosom of his Father, and took himself lodgings in the womb of a Virgin; he stripit himself of his Robes of glory, to put on the course home-spun, and thread-bare tatters of a frail humanity; and he that thought it no robbery to be equal with God, submitted to an estate lower than some of his own creatures; this is the first Riddle in the Apostles great mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh. And sure, that the most magnificent Monarch in the world should become a Toad, that the whole Host of Angels should be degraded into worms; that this goodly frame of the Creation should be unpinned and annihilated, or crowded into the narrow compass of one single a • ome, is infinitely a less wonder, than for God to become a man; had Christ been made an Angel, it had been infinitely below himself, and yet then he had remained a spirit, and stayed something nearer home; but he clothed his Divinity with a body; the Word was made flesh; he made himself of no reputation, and was made in the likeness of men, Ver. 6. He emptied himself of his credit; to become a man was so much beneath him, that upon the matter it undid him in point of reputation. The greatest step of Christ's humiliation, was his Incarnation; for that being man he should die, is nothing so astonishing a wonder, and inconceivable, as that being God he should be made a man.

2. He condescended to put his neck under the yoke of the Law. God (saith the Apostle) sent forth his son made of a woman; and though that be very much, yet there is more added, made under the Law. Though every man that is born of a woman, every mothers child among us, be necessarily subject to a Law, and it is no condescension, its no whit below the greatest Prince on earth that gives Laws to many thousands; yet this was a very great submission in Christ. Adam while he continued in a state of integrity and perfection, was then under a Law, and did not yield or abate anything of his right by it; the blessed and glorious Angels continue under an obligation to obedience, and they do not by this lose any of their birth-right for a creature; as a creature, is indispensably subjected to the Law of its Maker, by virtue of its creatureship and dependence; and should any one of them attempt a disobligation, it were an essay toward a prodigious and praeternatural Antinomianism. But the Son of God, the Eternal and Independent Law-maker did admirably abase himself, to come under the obediential observance, and poisonous malediction of that Law, upon which there was only the print of his own authoririty; for though the human nature abstractly considered, is as a creature bound to the observance of a Law, yet being in conjunction with the second person in the Trinity, and assumed into the personality of the Son of God, it was exempted from obedience, and indemnified as to curse and penalty. Christ submitted to the Ceremonial Law in his circumcision, put his neck under the yoke of the moral Law, to fulfill the preceptive part by his Perfect obedience, and satisfy the maledictive part by his complete sufferings; all which subjection was not a debt that God could have challenged of him, but a pure voluntary subscription; The Law is not made in some sense for a righteous man, but it is not made in any sense for the glorious God.

3. And which is a step beneath both these; he appeared as a sinful man, or in the likeness of sinful flesh; subjection to the Law made him very low, but the similitude of sin, which is the violation of the Law was a far greater abasement. Christ's appearing in the likeness of sinful flesh, must not be understood as though his flesh were only a likeness and appearance, or he had only an aerial, and phantastical body; as some of old absurdly fancied and affirmed; he had true real flesh, though but the similitude and resemblance of sinful flesh; the word likeness relates not to flesh, but sin; not flesh in likeness, but sin in likeness; a being under a Law implies nothing of sin; it was the case of Adam, and the Angels, and both without sin, or anything that looked like sin; but our blessed Lord condescended not only to subjection, but to the print and appearances of transgression. He shall appear (saith the Apostle) the second time without sin unto salvation. Intimating, that the first time he appeared with sin upon him; when he returns in glory, he shall have no dints of sin upon him; the smell or fingeing of it shall not be upon his garments; but his first entrance was with many of those prints and marks that sin (where ever it is) uses to leave behind it. Sin was neither inherent in him, nor committed by him; but imputed to him. Sin never defiled him, but it defaced him; he had nothing of its impurity, but much of its penalty; he was not tainted with that plague, but he was pleased to take upon him the tokens. In the same Chapter the Prophet tells us, He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth, and he was numbered with Transgressors. He trode not one step awry in sin, but many of the footsteps of sin appeared upon him; to instance in a few.

1. Poverty: he came in a low and mean condition, and thats the very likeness of sin, the great bankrupt that brought all to beggary. Though he was rich, yet for our sakes he b came poor. When he rode to Jerusalem, it was not in state, in a gilded Coach with six horses; or mounted like a Lord Mayor with embossed trappings; but as one might rather say, like a Beggar that is sent with a Passe from one Town to another; Sitting upon an Ass, and a Colt, the fool of an Ass. The Foxes have holes, and the Birds of the Air have nests, but the Son of man had not where to lay his head. He was at such a very low ebb as to worldly riches, that once he, and one of his Apostles, could not both of them make a purse for half a crown to pay their tax without the working of a Miracle.

2. Another likeness of sin was sorrow: He was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with griefs; as Antichrist is called a man of sin, his very make and constitution is sin, so was Christ a man of sorrows, and as it were made up of them, they were in a manner his complexion. We read oft of his weeping, but it is not observed that ever there was a smile upon his face. Now sin and sorrow are so near of kin, that the Hebrew language compriseth both in one word; they are as like as mother and daughter, and both called by the same name.

3. A third likeness of sin was shame and reproach: Sin was the inlet of shame; when our first Parents had sinned, their eyes were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and sewed fig-leaves toge her. Why they were naked before, and were not ignorant of it, but then it was no shame to them; sin gave them a sight of their nakedness, so as they never saw it before: This similitude of sin was upon Christ, when he was called Glutton, Wine-bibber, Conjurer, Blasphemer, Devil, and what not, that might cause and increase contempt? We hid (as it were) our faces from him, (saith the Prophet) he was despised, and we esteemed him not; how vile and contemptible is that person, upon whom we turn the back in scorn? to whom we will not vouchsafe so much as a look, or the glance of an eye! I am a reproach of men, (saith the Psalmist in the person of Christ) and desp sed of the people.

4. Another similitude of sin, was the withdrawment of his Father, and clouding the li • h • of his count • ance. His fathers forsaking him, whereof he makes that heavy heart-breaking complaint, My God, my God, why hast thou for • aken me? The frown of his Father, and brow-beating of his displeasure, was the very likeness of sin; for from that noisome vapor o • lie arises a cloud to over-cast the light of his countena ce. Nothing but that builds up a partition wall betwixt him and us. Your iniquities have separated betwixt you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you. We hid our face from Christ, and in that there was reproach; but alas, this was nothing in comparison; a Prince need not trouble himself that he hath not the smile of his Groom: What if all creatures in heaven and earth had hid their faces from Christ, he could well have born up under it; but the hiding of his Fathers face even broke his heart, as a burden intolerable.

5. And lastly, Christ submitted to death, and that's ano • her likeness of sin. Sin entered into the world, and death by sin; they came together as it were, hand in hand; this was • he penalty inflicted upon sin, In the day thou e • test, thou shalt su • ely die. Now in this respect Christ abased himself to look like a sinner; Humbled himself, and became obedient to death, the death of the Cross.

In the further Amplification of this, I shall endeavor to show three things.

• 1. What kind of death Christ humbled himself unto.
• 2. In what manner Christ underwent that death.
• 3. Upon what grounds Christ thus humbled himself to death.

1. What kind of death Christ humbled himself unto; and this I cannot omit, the Apostle having added such a remarkable Emphasis by way of reduplication; Death, even the death of the Cross. It was not only a violent death, and there's much in that, that he died not a natural, but a violent death: Nor indeed could he, both because there was no sin in him to be the in-let of a natural death, nor would that have been satisfactory for the sin of others. It was not only (I say) a violent death; but such a violent death, as had in it a more than ordinary violence, a death by crucifying, which hath these three imbittering Circumstances.

• 1. Pain.
• 2. Shame.
• 3. Curse.

1. Pain: The easiest death is painful; a death-bed, though a down-bed, is for the most part a little ease. Oh my gowty feet, saith Asa! O my cold benumbed body, saith David! O my leprous skin, saith Uzziah! O my pained a king head cries the son of the Shunamite! but in the death of Christ there was the pain of many deaths put together; in the very dawning of the Gospel, the very first time we find the death of Christ mentioned, it is set out by bruising; It shall bruise the head, and thou shalt bruise his heel, viz. his human nature, that which could be bruised: It pleased the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief; bruised him as with a Pestel in a Mortar; hence was it he prayed so earnestly that the Cup might pass; it was so full of worm-wood and gall, and the pain so violent which he was to encounter, that he screwed up his request to the highest pin, if it be possible; wise and resolute men do not use to complain of a little; they will not cry oh at a flea-bite, or the burning of a finger; and some of the Martyrs have born up with such Christian courage, and gallantry in death, that being on the Rack they would not be loosed; they were tortured, not accepting deliverance, (saith the Apostle) the incomes and supports of Divine Grace, made an abatement of their pains; oh but what shall we say of the bitterness of that death, where the Author of all their strength, God and man bewrays passions? how much dregs was there in that Cup which Christ was so loath to drink of?

Three things made Christ's death so exceeding painful.

1. The piercing his hands and feet, those sinnews and sensitive parts. Christ's body was all over excellently well tempered, and so his sense admirably acute; but to be pierced and dig'd through hands and feet, parts so full of nerves and sinnews, must needs aggravate and augment the smart; They have pierced my hands and my feet, was the Prophetical complaint of the Psalmist, fulfilled in Christ.

2. Another thing that addeth much to the pain of Christ's death, was the extension and distortion of his body; the Cross was a rack to him, and he was stretchit as upon the Tenters; for when any persons were to be crucified, the Cross you must understand, l • y all along upon the ground till the party was nailed to it, and stretchit out at his full length, and afterward erected; and to this the Psalmist had respect in that sad complaint of his, I may tell all my bones; he was so rackit, that his bones were almost ready to start out of the skin.

3. The death of Christ was more painful, by reason of its slowness, and gradual approach. Christ was from the third, to the ninth hour in dying; from nine in the morning, till three in the afternoon, six complete hours—When bloody Tyrants would make any man's death more than ordinarily painful, they have devised ways to cause a lingering death; and when news was once brought to one of them, that such a one was dead suddenly, he cried out, Evasit, he hath made an escape. When death comes, the slower its pace, the heavier its tread; the longer the Seige, the fiercer the storm; but this is true of Christ, more than others; for when they are long in dying, they usually faint, and their spirits abate, they are brought step by step to deaths door, and dead before death; but with Christ it was otherwise, he stood all that while in perfect strength; the vigor and acuteness of his senses was no whit blunted, or made less sensible of pain. That is a notable Scripture, Mark 15.37, 39. Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the Ghost; and when the Centurion, which stood ov • r against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the Ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God; a very strange inference, this man dies, and gives up the Ghost, and therefore he is the Son of God. The Argument one would think, were strong to the contrary; but here lies the strength of his reason, When he saw he so cried out, and died, he said he was the Son of God. He very well knew, that in other men strength abated leisurely, their speech grew low, and they used to fumble and falter, and rattle in the throat; but as for this man, he gave such a cry at the last gasp as he never heard, and thereupon infers, Truly he was the Son of God.

2. Another bitter ingredient unto the death of Christ was shame; and this was much more than the former. There is nothing so sharp and cutting, so intolerable to an ingenuous and noble spirit as shame. The pain of an hundred deaths, is more easily undergone by such, than the reproach of one. Now in this respect, the thieves fared much better than he did; we read of no irrision, no inscription, no taunts, or sarcasms cast upon them; they had only pain to encounter; Christ both pain and scorn; the soldiers, the Jews, the very thieves flouted him. He endured the Cross, (saith the Apostle) and despised the shame. The Cross was itself a • ignominious death, the death of a slave; no Free man, or man of fashio • was ever put to it; and to this day, we say of one that is hanged, He dies like a dog; yea, but Christ did not only die such an ignominious and reproachful death as this, but he was sold to it, and a goodly price that he was prized at; the death itself was shameful, the death of a slave, and this was an aggravating circumstance of ignominy, that he was sold to it as a slave; all the while he was dying, he stood naked upon the Cross. Now nakedness is our shame; he was scorned and derided on all sides; they mocked and shakit the head at him; all his Offices were derided; his Priestly Office; He saved others, himself he cannot save; his Prophetical Office, when they blinded him, and bid him proph • sie, who it was that smote him. His Kingly Office, when they put a robe upon him, and in mockery said, Hay • e King of the Jews. Thieves, and notorious Villains were crucified with him, and he put in the midst, as though he were worse than both of them, and all their vill • inies, and mis-demeanors had concentred in him; they spit in his face, and that's a notable mark of infamy, such an one as God allotted for the reproach of him that refused to build up his Brothers house. And all this was acted without the Gate; they thought him not worthy to suffer within the Walls of their City, lest forsooth, he might have polluted it. This the Apostle takes special notice of; Jesus, that he might sanctify the people with his own Blood, suffered without the Gate; which in the next verse he explains, and calls his reproach; as under the Law, the Blasphemer was by God's appointment to be stoned without the Camp; and amongst us at this day, the most base and villainous Malefactors are carted away to Tyburne, and not executed upon Tower hill, that is honorable.

3. The sting of Christ's death is yet behind, it was invenom'd with a curse; though pain be bad, and shame worse, yet the curse is worst of all. He that is hanged, is accursed of God. That was (it is true) a Ceremonial Curse, but it was typical, and had special relation to Christ, who was under a real, moral curse; and so it is applied by the Apostle, Christ hath Redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a Tree. And here the Apostle Peter puts a remarkable accent, speaking of Christ to the Jews, Whom ye slew, (saith he) and hang d on a Tree; intimating that bare slaying him, would not have been so much as hanging him on a tree; the Jews had many other ways of putting people to death, as stoning, strangling, burning, beheading, but only crucifying had a curse annexed to it. Christ was made sin for us, that we might meet with, and intercept that wrath and curse that was due to us, and breaking out upon us. We read in the story of his passion, that when Christ was going to wrestle with that dreadful agony in the garden, he passed over the brook Cedron. And if we consult the History of the Kings, we shall find that when any godly ones amongst them, as Hezekiah, Asa, Josiah, reformed and purged the City and Temple of Idolatry, they cast the abominable and cursed things into the brook Kidron. Christ was in his sufferings, to drink of the brook in the way, to pass over, and wade through a River full of curses.

2. In what manner Christ underwent this death. It behooves us to consider the manner of our performing duties to Christ, for their acceptation; and it will be worth the while for us to ponder the manner of Christ's shedding his blood for us; both for our consolation and imitation.

Now as to the manner of his death, three circumstances call for our consideration.

He died

• Willingly.
• Obediently.
• Humbly and Meekly.

1. Willingly; he was a Volunteer in death; and his offering up himself in sacrifice, was a free-will offering; his Fathers determination made it necessary; and thus, Christ ought to suffer, and the Son of man must be lifted up; but his Fa • hers preordination gave not his death the formality of a Sacrifice. In regard of men it was violent, They slew him w • th wick • d hands; this makes it not the sacrifice neither; they were not the Priests, but the butchers of Ch • ist. In respect of himself it was voluntary; that made the Sacrifice; Then said I, Lo I come; in the volume of the Book it is written of me, I delight to do thy Will, oh my God, yea, thy Law is within my heart. As if he had said, My very heart is ready for the shedding of my heart-blood. I lay down my life, (saith Christ) no man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself; though the Jews took it away, yet not against his Will; it was their murderous will to have it, and his gracious Will to give it. I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it again. As if he had said, were it not my pleasure to part with it, with all the power they could make, they were never able to wrest it out of my hands.

When one of Christ's followers struck off the High Priests servants ear, Christ gave him a check; Think st thou, saith he) that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of Angels. As if he had said, I need not such weapons, I could commission Twelve Legions of Angels to be of my life-guard: one were sufficient to do the business; as what a rout did one Angel once make in Sennacherib's army? but I could put twelve legions into battle array for my rescue, were not I as ready to be crucified, as they are to crucify me. And when the soldiers came to break his legs, they forbore, because he was already dead. Such was his forwardness to die, that he saved them a labor. Nay, there was not a bare willingness, but on his part, strong desires to die. I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished? his death was full of pain, but his heart was so set upon it, that he was in a manner pained, till he came to die; and not to have died, had been a death to him.

Object. But it will be objected, Christ feared death, he prayed against it, and therefore his Will had a repugnancy against it:

Answ. This doth not oppose, but rather testify and evidence Christ's willingness to die; for he may be considered as a private person, of the same natural affections, desires, and abhorrencies with other men; and so the bitter cup was justly feated, and declined; or in a public relation, as Mediator, a merciful and faithful High Priest, and so he most willingly submitted himself to it; and this willingness of Christ, ration officii, was so much the greater, because rati • ne naturae, he could not but have strong reluctancies against it.

2. Christ humbled himself to death obediently. It was his will to die, and yet he died not of his own will, but in obedience to his Fathers. We have them both conjoined, Heb. 10.7. Lo I come to do thy Will, O God. And Joh. 10.18. I lay down my life of myself; this Commandment have I received of my Father; he became obedient unto death, (saith the Text) In respect of God, Christ's death was justice and mercy; in respect of man, it was murder and cruelty; in respect of himself, it was obedience and humility. To obey, is be •• er than sacrifice. Christ's obedience was the best of his sacrifice; when he prayed to his Father, that the cup might pass, it was with this Clause of exception, Not as I w • ll, but as thou wilt.

3. Christ submitted himself to death humbly, and meekly; he was oppressed, and afflicted, y • t opened he not his mouth; not that he spake nothing at all, but he was silent as to murmurings and revilings; that was the work of his persecutors; not a word passed from him that might argue passion, or impatience, as from one of the Thieves that were crucified with him; he was brought as a Lamb to the slaughter; he was not enraged, or exasperated, with all the injustice, cruelty, and oppression of his enemies; not one word in heat of blood, to them whose errand was to shed his blood. Friend (saith he) to Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss? What meekness was here? though I confess there was a tart rebuke in that kind compellation, and Christ calling him friend, smartly checked him for his unfriendly carriage. When one of his Disciples cut off Malchus his ear, Put up thy sword, (saith he) We'le have none of that club law; he touches his ear, and heals it. When he was reviled, he reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; his enemies shot their arrows, even bitter words; but they recoyled not upon them. Nay, he returned not only no ill words, but gave prayers in exchange for their taunts and revilings; Father forgive them, for they know not what they do. It had been meekness to have gone through his sufferings without murmuring; but it was an high and heroical act of meekness indeed, to pour out prayers for them, that were such busy instruments in pouring out his blood; he was so far from biting the stone, that he kissed it, and the hand that threw it.

3. Upon what grounds Christ thus humbled himself to death: What cogent necessity was upon him; for we may not conceive that Christ thus humbled himself to death upon trivial and impertinent considerations; as David said once of Abner, Died Christ as a fool dieth? No sure, it was upon these six weighty grounds.

1. That Scripture prophesies and Predictions might be accomplished; all which represent him as coming in died garments from Bozrah. The first Scripture that ever mentions Christ, shows him a bleeding and crucified Savior. Now Christ was to make good to a tittle everything that had been before written of him. In Saint Matthews Gospel this is very remarkable, who above all the rest hath most punctually observed the fulfilling of Prophesies, with whom the burden and under-song of almost every event is, ut impleretur, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the mouth of the Prophets. Christ himself renders this account of his sufferings in that Discourse of his with his Disciples upon the Road; Oh fools, and slow of heart, to believe all that the Prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered these things? The Prophets have all spoken this with one mounth, and is it possible I should make them all liars?

2. That Scripture types might be fulfilled; many whereof were to decipher and prefigure the death of Christ, as Isaac 's being offered, the slaying of the Sacrifices, the lifting up of the Serpent; Now had not Christ's blood been shed, and he lift up upon the Cross, there had been no correspondency in the Antitype; as Moses lift up the Serpent in the Wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up. Had not Christ been made a Sacrifice, most of the Legal Ceremonies, and precedent prefigurations had either spoken lies, or at least nothing to the purpose.

3. That his Will and Testament might be firm and effectua • ; in his life he had given many precious Legacies, and they had been all void, and to no more purpose than a Deed without a Seal at it, unless ratified and confirmed; had not Christ given himself to death, all his other gifts that he had bequeathed in his Will, had been gif • less; this is the Apostles Argument, Where a Testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the Testator; for a Testament is of force after men are dead, otherwise it is of no force at all while the Testator liveth. A man that makes a Will, doth not intend that anybody should be the better by it, but upon his death: Suppose a man have a Legacy of a thousand pounds given him, he is not one whit the richer so long as his friend liveth, the Will holds not good in Law, nor can he sue for one penny of it. This Cup (saith Christ) is the New Testament in my blood; that New Testament which is ratified by my blood: Christ's death gives life not only to his people, but to his promises. It is expedient for you that I go away, (saith he) for If I go not away, the Comforter will not come: The sending of the Comforter was one principal clause of his last Testament; but till the death of the Testator, the Will could not be put in suit, it signified nothing, and was not pleadable. The Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified; what? had they received nothing of the Spirit? yes; but not according to that plentiful proportion, which he intended and promised in his Will. The Legacy was paid but in part, because the Testator was yet alive; he was no sooner dead, and got to heaven, but he makes all good to a tittle, as you may read, Acts 2.2, 3, 4.

4. That justice may be satisfied; the sentence upon sin was passed from the mouth of a righteous Judge; now though justice might admit of a change of persons, there was no room for a change of penalties; death was threatened, and death must be inflicted. If Christ will save sinners from death, justice will not let him save himself from death; without shedding of blood there is no remission: Christ undertaking to cross out, and cover the black lines of sin, must draw over them the red lines of blood: What the chief Priests said concerning Christ, is true in some sense, though false in theirs, He saved others, himself he cannot save: Justice was to have its penni-worths out of our Surety, and nothing could be abated of blood. God hath set forth Christ to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins, that he might be just.

5. That he that hath the power of death might be destroyed; through death he destroyed him that hath the power of death, that is the Devil. Satan hath the power of death, not as a Judge, but as an Executioner; and Christ's death hath destroyed him; not taken away his being, or undivel'd him; but shattered his Forces, broken, and subdued him. The crucifying of Christ was the Devils plot; he put Judas upon betraying him, the Jews upon accusing him, Pilate upon condemning him, the Soldiers upon executing him; but our Lord out-shot him in his own Bowe, and cut off Goliath 's head with Goliath 's Sword: It fared with Satan, as it is storied of a certain Soldier, who being cu iously inquisitive after the time of his death, went to an Astrologer, who of a long time would make him no answer, till at the length overcome by his importunity, he told him that he should die within three days; whereat the Soldier being angry, draws his Sword, and kills the Astrologer; for which murder within three days compass he was executed: And thus Satan plotting the death of Christ, to put by his own ruin, promoted, and procured it: Our Savior's death gave him such a deaths wound, as he will never claw off. The Lyon is terrible, (saith Chrysostom ) not only awake, but sleeping: And so Christ, not only living, but dying, came off a Conqueror; as Sampson at his death pulled down the pillars of the house, and made a greater rout among the Philistines, than in all his life; and therefore it is very observable when the death of Christ approached, and being in view, Satan perceived how great disadvantage was like thereby to accrue to him and his Kingdom; how he laid about, and bestirred himself by all means possible to hinder it; he put Pet • r upon dissuading him, Master, favor thyself, and let not this be unto thee; and Christ presently smelt him out in that advice, as appears by his rebuke, Get thee behind me Satan; he buzz'd dreams into the head of Pila es wife, and thereby endeavored to take him off, and divert him from pronouncing the sentence upon him.

6. To take away the meritorious cause of death; viz. sin: And verily had all the Devils in hell been routed, and sin, that Devil in the bosom remained undisturbed, it had been an inconsiderable victory; God sending his own Son in the similitude of sinful flesh for sin; tha • is, by a sacrifice for sin, (we have such another Ellipsis, Hebr. 10.6.) condemned sin in the flesh. Christ by his blood wrote a • ill of Inditement and Condemnation against sin, he sued it to an out-lary, and undermi • ed it as to its dominion and damnation; in that he died, he died unto sin once: The Saints die unto sin, namely, by Mortification; Reckon ye yourselves also to be dead indeed unto sin; but thus there was never any alive in Christ, but he died unto sin, namely, the utter ruin and undoing of sin: The Messiah shall be cut off, to finish transgression, and make an • nd of sins. There is a double finishing of sin, by consummation, and by consumption; the meaning is not as though Christ completed that which sinners had left imperfect, or varnisht over those sins which came out of their hands rude and unpolished; no, he could neither put an hand, nor set a tool to such work as this; but to make an end of sin, to eat into the heart, and tear out the bowels of it; such is Christ's hatred of sin, that rather than it shall live, himself will die.

CHRIST'S EXALTATION.

THE former Verses-speak of the deep humiliation of Jesus Christ; these words contain the Doctrine of Christ's most glorious Exaltation.

If you view Christ in the words before going, you will behold the Sun of righteousness eclipsed; but in this Text you will see him shining forth in his strength and splendor.

The Doctrine of Christ's Humiliation leads you to Mount Calvary, but this Doctrine will lead you to Mount Tabor, to Mount Olivet.

There you may see Christ standing at the Bar, but here you see him sitting on a Throne of Majesty and glory.

The former Doctrine shows you the Son of man in the form of a servant, but this represents Christ to you the Son of God like himself, in the glorious estate of Triumphant Majesty.

You have heard how Christ died for our sins, and how we are Reconciled by his death; and now you shall hear how he rose for our justification, and how we are saved by his life.

In his Humiliation there was neither form, nor beauty, nor comeliness did appear; but now you will see him in the excellency and brightness of his Fathers glory.

In Christ's Humiliation you hear how he was reproached in his Person, Name, Doctrine, Ministry, and Miracles; but he is now exalted, and hath a name given him above every name.

And whereas in his Humiliation his enemies bowed the knee in scorn to him, yet in his Exaltation they must bow the knee with fear and trembling. Then they cried after Christ, Crucify him, crucify him; but God hath exalted him so, as every tongue must confess that Jesus is the Lord, to the glory of God.

And thus Contraries are illustrated by their contraries; the sufferings of Christ (like a dark shadow to a curious picture, or a black veil to a beautiful face) do make the glory of his Exaltation the more glorious.

The height of Christ's Exaltation, is best known by considering the depth of his humiliation; the Cross of Christ (as one saith) being the best Jacob's staff to take the height of this morning Star, or rather Sun of Righteousness, breaking forth most gloriously from under a dark Cloud.

In these three verses we have these Particulars considerable.

1. The Connection between the Humiliation and Exaltation of Christ in these words, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Wherefore also God hath exalted him.

2. The Doctrine of Christ's Exaltation laid down, God hath highly exalted him.

3. The end of Christ's Exaltation, it was for the glory of God the Father.

Before we come to the Doctrine of Christ's Exaltation, we will a little consider the connection of these three Verses with the three preceding Verses, viz. 6, 7, 8.— where it is said, that Jesus Christ being in the form of God, and thought it not Robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no Reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross; wherefo • e God also hath highly exalted him, &c.

It is a Question amongst Divines, whether the Humiliation of Christ be the Meritorious cause, or only the Antecedent of his Exaltation; and yet they that dispute this, do all agree in this, That Jesus did not by his Humiliation and sufferings merit such things as he was invested withal before he suffered; for that which is meritorious, must always precede the reward; and therefore it cannot be said, that Christ did merit the personal union of his Divine and Human Nature, nor the happiness of his soul, nor his Habitual Graces, which He had from the first Moment of his Incarnation.

First, There are some Divines who interpret the particle 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 as a causal; and so hold that Christ by his Humiliation, did merit his Exalta • ion; and of this opinion was Augustine, who calls Christ's Humiliation the meritori • us cause of his Exaltation; and his Exaltation the r • ward of his Humiliation. The Popish wr • ters go generally this way. I find also amongst Protestant Writers, the Learned Zanchi of this Opinion, who upon this Text hath this Note. By this Particle 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 (wherefore) The Apostle notes the merits of Christ, whereby he hath merited his own Exaltation, and our Salvation.

And that which favors this Explication, is that saying of the Apostle concerning Christ; That for the joy that was set before him, he endured the Cross, and despised the shame, as if having an eye to the Recompence of the Reward, enabled Christ to persevere with more patience, when he became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross.

Neither doth it derogate from the freeness of Christ's sufferings, that he was rewarded for them; for even that glory that Christ hath in heaven, is for our good and comfort. Nor was it out of indigence and necessity, that Christ accepts of glory in a way of Reward of his obedience; but herein he commended his love the more to us, that would so far condescend, and so far even in his Exaltation humble himself, to receive glory in the way of obedience, which he might have challenged by virtue of his personal union. Even as a Prince, who though he hath right to a Kingdom by Inheritance and Succession, yet he will accept of it as a Reward of his Obedience, and Conquest over its enemies.

2. But others understand the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in the Text, not as signifying the Humiliation • f Christ to be the meritorious cause, but only the Antecedent of his Exaltat • on; and so they make this particle to be not causal, but connective only; and so I find some of the Ancient Translations, as the Ethiopic Version doth only join the Humiliation and Exaltation of Christ together; Humilavit seipsum & magnificavit eum Deus. — And for this may be rationally urged,

1. That in the whole woe • k of our Redemption effected by Christ, Jesus Christ had a respect no • unto himself, but unto us. It is for us, that he humbled himself to the Death of the Cross, for us men, and our Salvation.

2. Jesus Christ had right to all the Honor, Glory, and Majesty, which now he is possessed of in Heaven, by virtue of his being the Son of God; and the glory which he hath now in Heaven, he had with God before the world was.

3. The freeness of God's love in giving Christ, and of Christ's in giving himself for us, was such, that the main intention of God, was, that not Christ's, but our estate might be bettered; if the Son of God had never left the bosom of the Father, he had been forever God bl ssed in himself. But such was the love of the Father, that he gave his only begotten Son that we might not perish, who believe, but might have everlasting life.

4. It is fit to be considered, that the glory which Christ hath in Heaven, in sitting at the right hand of God, is such, that it cannot be merited by the sufferings of the Human nature of Christ. And therefore it is said, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , he hath fr • ely given him a name above every name.

This last interpretation of the Particle 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , is that to which most of our Protestant Divines do incline.

I will not here undertake to determine the Question; I find it the judgment of some of our Learned Divines, That there need be no Controversy about this thing, for the Particle 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 notes order; but whether the order of causality or antecedency, or both, may be consistent with the Analogy of Faith.

1. For if we look upon Jesus Christ as rewarded for his sufferings for us, we may thence be assured, that our sufferings for him (though of another nature) shall be eternally rewarded.

2. Or if you note the order only, that Jesus Christ was first humbled, and then exalted, we may thence learn that before honor is humility, and that if we Humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, in due time he will exalt us.

Leaving therefore this Question, I proceed to the Doctrine of Christ's Exaltation, as it is laid down in this Text.

Doct. It pleased God the Father for his own glory, that the Lord Jesus Christ, after he had been deeply humbled, should be highly exalted.

Thus it pleased God, that he who had humbled himself to the death of the Cross, should be made higher than the Heavens; and he who had taken on him the form of a Servant, should now appear in Heaven like himself, the Prince of life; and he that made himself of no reputation, should now be in Heaven the Lord of Glory; and the same Jesus who was crucified, God hath made both Lord and Christ; and He who took not on him the nature of Angels, but took on him the seed of Abraham, is exalted above Angels, being gone into Heaven, and is on the Right Hand of God; Angels, and Authorities, and Powers, being made subject unto him.

There is a word in the Text that is very Emphatical, which is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , he hath highly exalted. The Elegancy of the Greek tongue is singular; The Apostle hath a notable word, Ephes. 3.8. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , less than the least of Saints; and here we have a no less remarkable word, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , he hath highly exalted him; God hath exalted Jesus Christ above all Exaltation; the Exaltation of Jesus Christ, was supersuperlative. The Latin Version of the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Exaltavit eum, he exalted him, is too low to express the sublimity of the Greek word. We have here an elegant and an emphatical Pleonasme, which the Greek tongue borrows of the Hebrew, as is frequently used in the New Testament, as it is said of the Magi, when they saw the Star, they rejoiced with great joy; and so when Christ came to Celebrate his last Passover, he saith to his Disciples, With desire have I desired to eat this Passover. So it is sa • d here, the Lord Jesus Christ was very highly exalted; he was exalted with all Exaltation. Jesus Christ in his Resurrection was exalted; in his Ascension he was highly exalted; in his sitting at the right hand of God, he was very highly exalted above all Exaltation. Christ in his Resurrection, was exalted above the Grave; in his Ascension, above the Earth, and in his Session at God's right hand, he was exalted above the highest Heavens.

It is very Remarkable how the steps of Christ's Exaltation did punctually answer to the steps of his Humiliation.

There were three steps by which Jesus Christ descended in his voluntary Humiliation.

First, His Incarnation, by which he was made of a woman, and so became man; he was made sin, and so became out Surety; he was made a Curse, and so became our Sacrifice. This was the largest step of Christ's Descension and Humiliation; for it was more for the Son of God to become the Son of man, than for the Son of man to die, and being dead, to be buried, and being buried, to continue in the state of the dead, and under the power of death until the Third Day.

Answerable to this degree of his Humiliation, was his Resurrection; for as by his Incarnation he was manifest in the flesh, the son of man, made of the seed of David according to the flesh, so by his Resurrection from the dead, he was declared to be the Son of God, with power according to the Spirit of holiness. The Resurrection of Christ was the first step of his Exaltation, He was declared to be the Son of God. He was always the Son of God, even during the days of his flesh; but then he was openly declared to be the Son of God, that he could by his own Almighty Power, raise up the Temple of his Body, which the Jews had Destroy'd.

The second step of Christ's Humiliation, was his poor, painful, and contemptible life, and his painful, shameful, and cursed death of the Cross; He was found in the form of a Servant. He was despised in his Person, Ministry, and Miracles in the days of his flesh; that is, whilst he lived here upon earth. He was poor in estate, followed by the poor; he had not where to lay his head, he was reproached, and counted a Sabbath-breaker, a wine-bibb r, an enemy to Caesar, a Blasphemer, he was counted everything but what he was.

Answerable to this great Exinanition of Christ, is his ascension into Heaven, and sitting at the right hand of God. Man did not so despise and disparage, but God hath honored him, to sit on the right hand of God; note the great honor that Jesus Christ is invested withal; as he was man, so he was lower than the Angels; But in that he hath said unto him, Sit thou on my right hand, he hath e xalted him above the Angels; for to none of the Angels hath he said at any time, Thou art my Son, Sit thou on my right hand.

To sit at God's right hand, is to be next in dignity and honor unto Almighty God; and this is that which the Apostle speaks of, showing how God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the Heavenly places, far above all principality and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the Head over all things to the Church.

Thus all the dishonor and reproach that was cast upon Christ in his life, and the ignominy of his shameful, painful, and cursed death of the Cross is now taken away by Christ his ascending up into heaven, sitting at God's right hand, and all the Angels of God worshipping him.

And thus our Lord Jesus was exalted from a death of shame, to a life of glory, and that not to a temporary, but an eternal life. Christ was raised up, not as Lazarus to die again, but Christ died but once, but lives forever at the right hand of God to make Intercession. So speaketh Christ of himself, I am he that liveth, and was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore.

Thus he that descended in his burial into the lowest parts of the earth, is the same also that ascended up far above the Heavens.

3. His coming to judge the world, answers his being judged in the world, and by the world. As Christ's Exaltation began at his Resurrection, so it shall be completed when he shall come in his glory, and all the holy Angels with him; then shall he sit upon the Throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all Nations. He that came at first to be judged, shall come the second time to judge the world. We have in the Scriptures several descriptions of Christ's glorious coming to judge the world; but when he shall come indeed, he will make known his power and glory to all the world. God hath given the judgment of all things and persons into the hands of his Son Jesus Christ; the day of judgment is therefore called the Day of Christ; and the Judgment-seat, is the Tribunal of Christ; the appearing, the coming, the revealing of Jesus Christ the judge of quick and dead.

The Apostle gives you the first and last part of Christ's Exaltation in one Text; and make the first part of it as an assurance of the last; God (saith he) hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained, where • of he hath given assuranc • unto all m • n, in that he hath raised him from the dead. Whence we may believe, that as certainly as Christ did rise, so certainly shall he come to judge the world. God hath given us assurance of the one by the other. And this committing all judgment to the Lord Jesus Christ, is that he might be glorified; the Father hath committed all judgment to the Son, that all men should honor the Son, as they honor the Father.

Then shall our Savior appear in his glory, and judge those wicked ones that judged him. We read how the Jews by the help of Judas and the Soldiers, took him and bound him, and led him to the High Priest, and afterwards to Pilate, and how basely he was betrayed, falsely accused, unjustly condemned, and cruelly murdered.

But there will be a day, when Judas and the wicked Jews, when Herod, and Pontius Pilate, and the Soldiers, and all his enemies shall be dragged into his presence; and then the Lord Jesus who before shown his patience, will show his power; and he who was so unjustly condemned, shall judge the world in righteo • sness; and he that was numbered amongst Transgressours, shall at that great day judge and punish all transgressors.

And thus as Christ humbled himself in his Incarnation, in his Life, Death, and Burial, so God the Father hath exalted him in his Resurrection, Ascension, Session at the right hand of God, and in constituting him Judge of quick and dead.

Jesus Christ by his Resurrection overcame all his enemies, death, and him that had the power of death, the Devil. By his Ascension, and sitting on the right hand of God, he hath Triumphed openly over them; and by his being appointed Judge of all, he will avenge himself of all his enemies, when all must appear before that High Court of Justice, from which there is no appeal. So that the Lord Jesus Christ by his Resurrection, is exalted above the grave; by his Ascension, above the earth; by his sitting at God's right hand, he is advanced above the heavens; and by being the Judge of all, he is Exalted above Angels, Principalities, and Powers; and as he was abased more than others, he is Exalted above all others.

Thus in part the glorious Exaltation of Christ hath been set forth in the several degrees thereof. For the further Demonstration of the Doctrine of Christ's Exaltation, let us consider the particulars thereof, as they are contained in this Scripture, and they are these three.

1. God hath given him a name above every name.

2. That every knee, of things in Heaven, and things on the earth, and things under the earth, shall bow to the Name of Jesus.

3. That every tongue must confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord.

For the first of these we will inquire,

1. What we are to understand by the Name given unto Jesus Christ?

2. How this Name is a Name above every Name?

3. How we are to understand this, that God hath given 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 to Christ, a Name above every Name?

In Answer to the first.

First, Some by this Name do understand the Name Christ Jesus, and so take it literally; but neither Jesus nor Christ is a name above every name.

1. Not Jesus, for that was the name of Joshua the Son of Nun; the famous Captain of Israel, called Jesus by the Apostle, Hebrews 4.8. And of this Name was the High Priest Joshua, the Son of Josedek, Haggai 1.1.

2. Neither is Christ a name above every name, for Saul is called the Lord's anointed, Christus Domini. And so also the Prophet speaking of Cyrus, calleth him the anointed of the Lord. We cannot therefore understand this of any name, either of Jesus or Christ; for Paul is here speaking not what the name of our Savior was, but of the Honor, Dignity, Power, and Majesty, to which Christ was advanced.

Secondly, Others, as Jerome and Theodoret do think, that in, that Christ was called the S nne of God, he had therein a name above every name; and this Exposition is gathered from that passage of the Apostle, that Jesus Christ was much better than the Angels, as he hath by Inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they; for unto which of the Angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee?

But though this be true, that to be the eternal Son of God, is a Name above every Name, yet this cannot be meant here, for it is spoken of that which Christ was exalted to after his Humiliation; but from Eternity he was the Son of God, and did not cease to be so by his Incarnation and Humiliation.

Thirdly, By Name therefore we are to understand that Power, Dignity, and Authority which Christ was invested withal, after the days of his flesh, and Sufferings were finished.

1, Sometimes in Scripture-phrase, Name is put for glory and Renown. So we read of men of Renown, it is in the Hebrew, Men of Name, and of famous men, Heads of the House of their Fathers. What we read famous men, is in the Hebrew, Men of Names; and thus the glory which Christ is invested withal, is the Glory of the only begotten of the Father.

2. By Name in Scripture-phrase, is meant power, and Authority, and the Sovereignty by which Christ is King of Nations, and King of Saints; and thus the Scripture speaks; The works (saith Christ) that I do in my Fathers Name, they bear witness of me; in my Fathers Name, i. e. by the Power of God. Thus P • ter speaks to the Criple In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth arise and walk, i. e. by the Power of Christ; for so it is expressed; when the Council questioned them for this thing, they are asked, By what power, or by what name have you done this?

So then, we are to understand by Name, that Honor, Authority, and Dignity, which Christ now enjoys in Heaven, of which he spake when he was ascending into Heaven, All power is given me in Heaven and Earth; and the Glory of Christ's Name is such, that it shall be celebrated through all the Ages of the World; Heaven and Earth shall Ring with the praises of his Name, as the Angels praised his Name at his Birth; Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be unto all people; for unto you is borne this day in the City of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord; and suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the Heavenly Hoste, praising God, and saying, Glory be to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will towards men.

So they do now praise him and worship him in Heaven, saying, Worthy is the Lamb to receive Power, and Riches, and Wisdom, and Strength, and Honor, and Glory, and Blessing.

Secondly, How hath Christ obtained a Name above every Name?

This Nomen super omne nomen, a Name above every Name, is a demonstration of Christ's Super-Exaltation, and it notes four things.

First, This is a Name above every Name, that Jesus Christ should be the only Savior of the World, that his Name should be the Only One Name by which we are saved.

Of this the Apostle, The stone which the builders refused, is become the Head of the Corner, neither is there any Salvation in any other, for there is none other Name under heaven given amongst men, whereby we must be saved. He is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the World; which we may understand not only emin • ntly, but exclusively; He is the Savior, there is none besides him. We read that God did raise Savior's to his people; Israel so acknowledged the Levites in their solemn Fast-day; Thou (O Lord) deliveredst thy people into the hands of their enemies who vexed them, and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven, and according to thy manifold mercies, thou gavest them Savior's who saved them out of the hand of their Enemies. Such a Savior was Moses to the Israelites from the Egyptians, Joshua from the Canaanites, Gideon from the Midianites, Jephthah from the Amorites, and Sampson from the Philistines; but all these were but partial, petty, and temporal Savior's. These saved the body from misery, and that but for a time; Christ saves our souls from our sins, and that forever. All these Savior's stood in need of the Savior. Joshua himself had eternally perished, had it not been for Jesus

Jesus Christ was the only Savior, to whose most precious and saving Name, all the Old Testament pointed at. He was the Savior in whom all the Promises were performed, all the Types accomplished, and all the Prophesies fulfilled.

It was unto this only Name, the Savior, that all the Prophets bare witness. He, he it was, that was Jacob's Shiloh, David's Lord, Isaiah's Immanuel, Jeremiah's Branch, Daniel's Messiah, and Haggie's desire of all Nations. It is in his name, and his Name alone that all Nations shall trust, and that for salvation.

Secondly, Jesus Christ hath a Name above every Name, in that he is exalted to sit at the Right hand of God, which is a Name or honor which never the Angels nor Arch-Angels had. This I prove from that passage of the Apostle in his Epistle to the Hebrews, where it is said concerning Christ; Who having purged our sins, is sat down on the Right hand of the Majesty on high, being made so much better than the Angels, as he hath by Inheritance obtained a more excellent Name than they; for to which of the Angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy Foo • -stool?

Thirdly, He hath a Name above every Name, because it is through this Name, that the Name of God becomes a comfort unto us. The Attributes of God, are the Name of God; Now without an Interest in Christ, we shall have no comfort in any Attribute of God.

To a Christless sinner, all the Attributes of God are against him; as for instance,

1. God is wise; that's the worse for a wicked man; for he knows all that wickedness thine own heart is privy to, and much more evil by thee, than thine own heart knoweth.

2. God is holy, and therefore he must needs hate those that are Filthy, Being of purer eyes than to behold iniquity.

3. God is just; and if the righteousness of Christ do not Screen thee, the wrath and vengeance of God must needs break out upon thee for thy guilt.

4. God is Almighty; and how shall the Potters Vessel endure the least touch of his hand? how shall the chaff stand before the Whirl-wind of his wrath? how shall the stubble dwell with everlasting burnings? and such are all Sinners out of Christ.

All the thoughts of God must needs be terrible to all those souls that are out of Christ.

But the Name of Christ, is that which makes the Name of God a Sanctuary and strong Tower; the face of God shines upon us in the face o • Jesus Christ.

As Moses when he was hid in the Rock, could with delight hear the Name of God proclaimed; so how sweet, and lovely, and comfortable, are all the Attributes of God to all those that are in the Rock, the Rock Christ Jesus!

1. God is a wise God, the more is my comfort, may a Believer say, for he knows how to guide me; he knows what I want, and how to supply it.

2. God is a holy God, and thats a comfortable Attribute, for in Christ he is our sanctification.

3. God is a merc • full and gracious God, so he is in himself; but in Christ Jesus he is most merciful, gracious, and full of compassion to pity and pardon his children, Even as a Father pitieth his Children,