had persevered in his duty, the reward had been from grace, for owing himself to God, he could receive nothing but as a gift from his bounty; so that goodness only had then been exercised, and not in his highest and most obliging acts, which are to save the guilty and miserable; for innocence is incapable of mercy. If the sentence had been inflicted, justice had been honoured with a solemn sacrifice; but mercy, the sweet, tender, and indulgent attribute had never appeared. But now the wisdom of God is eminent in the accord of both these attributes. God is equally glorious, as equally God, in preserving the authority of his law by an act of justice upon our surety, as in the exercise of mercy by remitting the punishment to the offender. And it is no less honourable to God's wisdom to restore man with infinite advantage. It is a mystery in nature, that the corruption of one thing is the generation of another; it is more mysterious in grace, that the fall of man should occasion his more noble restitution. Innocence was not his last end, his supreme felicity transcends the first. The holiness of Adam was perfect, but mutable: but holiness in the redeemed, though in a less degree, shall be victorious over all temptations: for they are joined to the heavenly Adam, in a strict and inviolable union. And those graces are acted by them, for the exercise of which there were no objects and occasions in innocence; 1 Pet. 2. 20. as compassion to the miserable, forgiveness of injuries, fortitude and patience; all which, as they are a most lively resemblance of the divine perfections, 1 Pet. 4. 14. so an excellent ornament to the soul, and infinitely endear it to God. And the happiness of our renewed state exceeds our primitive felicity. Whether we consider the nature of it, it is wholly spiritual; or the place of it, heaven the sanctuary of life and immortality; or the constitution of the body, which shall be clothed with celestial qualities: but this will be particularly discussed in its proper place. These are the effects of infinite wisdom, to the production of which sin affords -no casualty, but hath merely an accidental respect. As the apostle interprets the words of David, Rom. 3. 4. “ Against thee only have I sinned, that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and overcome when thou judgest." Which doth not respect the intention of David, but the event only. The greater his injustice was in the commission, the more clear would God's justice be in the condemnation of his sin. 2. The wisdom of God appeared in ordaining such a Mediator, who was qualified to reconcile God to man, and man to God. The first and most admirable article in the mystery of godliness, and the foundation of all the rest is, that “God is manifest in the flesh.” 1 Tim. 3. 16. The middle must equally touch the extremes. A mediator must be capable of the sentiments and affections of both the parties he will reconcile. He must be a just esteemer of the rights and injuries of the one and the other, and have a common interest in both. The Son of God assuming the human nature, perfectly possesses these qualities, he hath zeal for God, and compassion for man. He hath taken pledges of heaven and earth; the supreme nature in heaven, and the most excellent on the earth, to make the hostility, cease between them. He is Immanuel by nature and office. And if no less than an inspired wisdom could devise how to frame the earthly tabernacle, Exod. 36. wherein God dwelt in a shadow and typical manner, what wisdom was requisite to frame the human nature of Christ, wherein the “ Deity was really to dwell ?” John 1. Now to discover more clearly the divine wisdom, in uniting the two natures in Christ, to qualify him for his office, Colos. 1. it is requisite to consider, that the office of mediator hath three charges annexed to it; the priestly, which respects God; the prophetical and kingly, which regard men. These have a respect to the evils which oppress fallen man; and they are guilt, ignorance, sin, and death. Man was capitally guilty of the breach of God's law, and under the tyranny of his lusts, in the issue liable to death. The Redeemer is made to him wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. These benefits are dispensed by him in his threefold office; as a priest he expiates sin, as a prophet he instructs the church, as a king he regulates the lives of his subjects, delivers them from their enemies, and makes them happy. Now the divine and human nature are requisite for the performance of all these. For nothing is effectual to an end, but what is proportionable and commensurate thereunto; and to proportion excesses as well as defects, are opposite. This will appear by taking a distinct view of the several offices of our mediator. 1. The priestly office hath two parts. 1. To make expiation for sin. Now for the making expiation for sin, there was a necessary concurrence of the two natures in our Redeemer. He must be man; for the Deity was not capable of those submissions and sufferings which were requisite to expiate sin. And he must be man, that the sinning nature might suffer, and thereby acquire a title to the satisfaction that is made. The meritorious imputation of Christ's sufferings to man, is grounded on the union between them, which is as well natural in his partaking of flesh and blood, as moral in the consent of their wills. As the apostle observes, Heb. 2. 11. “That he who sanctifies, and they that are sanctified are all one:” so he that suffers, and they for whom he suffers, must have communion in the same nature. For this reason, God having resolved never to dispense mercy to the fallen angels, the Redeemer did not assume the angelical nature, bur the seed of Abraham. And as the human nature was necessary to qualify him for sufferings, and to make them suitable, so the divine was to make them sufficient. The lower nature considered in itself, could make no satisfaction: the dignity of the divine person makes a temporal punishment to be of an infinite value in God's account. Besides, the human nature had sunk under the weight of wrath, if the Deity had not been personally present to support it. Briefly, to perform the first part of his office, he must suffer, yet be impassable; die, yet be immortal; and undergo the wrath of God, to deliver man from it. * 2. To make intercession for us, it was requisite that he should partake of both natures, that he might have credit with God, and compassion to man. The Son hath a prevailing interest in the Father, as he testifies, “ I know thou hearest me always," John 11. 42. A privilege which neither Abraham, Moses, nor any other who were the most favoured saints, enjoyed. And, as man, he was fit for passion and compassion. The human nature is the proper subject of feeling pity, especially when it hath felt misery. God is capable of love, not in strictness of compassion. For sympathy proceeds from an experimental sense of what one hath suffered, and the sight of the like affliction in others, revives the affections which were felt in that state, and inclines to pity, The apostle offers this to believers as the ground of comfort, that he who took our nature, and felt our griefs, intercedes for us. “For we have not an High-Priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all things tempted as we are, yet without sin, Heb. 4. 15. that with an humble confidence we may come to the “throne of grace.” He hath drunk deepest of the * Solus deus sentire, solus homo superare mortem non potuit, quam pre nobis obire debuit. cup that he may be an all-sufficient comforter to those that mourn. He hath such tender bowels, we may trust him to solicit our salvation. In short, it is the great support of our faith, that “we have access to the Father by the Son," Ephes. 2. 18. and present all our requests by a Mediator so worthy and so dear to him, and by one who left the joys of heaven, that by enduring affliction on earth, his heart might be made tunable to the hearts of the afflicted. Secondly. For the discharge of the prophetical office, it was necessary the Mediator should be God and man. 1. He must be God, that he might deliver his counsels with more authority and efficacy than any mere creature could. He must be a teacher sent from heaven that reveals to us the will of God concerning the way thither, and the certainty and excellency of that state. Now Christ is the original of all wisdom; it is not said the word of the Lord came to him, as to the prophets; he is the fountain of all sacred knowledge. The Son came from the “bosom of the Father,” John 1. 18. the seat of his counsels and compassions, to reveal those secrets which were concealed from the angels, in that light which is inaccessible. And it is God alone can teach the heart, and convince the conscience, so as to produce a saving belief of the heavenly doctrine, and a delight in the discovery, and a resolution to follow it wherever it directs. 2. It was fit he should be man, that he might be familiarly conversant with us, and convey the counsels of God in such a way as man could receive. All saving truth comes from God, and it follows, by just consequence, that the nearer he is to us, the better we are like to be instructed. Now there are twe things which render sinful man incapable of immediate converse with God, 1. The infirmity of his nature. First. The infirmity of man's nature cannot endure the glory of God's appearance. When the law was delivered on Mount Sinai, the Israelites were under great terrors at the sights and prodigies which accompanied the divine presence, and they desired that God would speak to them no more in his “majesty and greatness, lest they should die.” Deut. 5. 25. There is such a disproportion between our meanness and his excellencies, that Daniel, though a favourite of heaven, yet his comeliness was turned into corruption at the sight of a vision. Dan. 10. 17. And the beloved disciple “fell down as dead at the appearance of Christ in his glory.”. Rev. 1. 17. When the eye gazes on the sun, it is more tormented with the brightness than pleased with the beauty of it; but when the beams are transmitted through a coloured medium, they are more temperate and sweetened to the sight. The eternal word shining in his full glory, the more bright, the less visible is he to mortal eyes; but the incarnate word is eclipsed and allayed by “ a veil of flesh,” Heb. 10. 20. and so made accessible to us. God, out of a tender respect to our frailty and fears, promised to “raise up a prophet clothed in our nature," Deut. 18. 15. that we might comfortably and quietly receive his instructions. 2. Guilt makes us fearful of his presence. The approach of God awakens the conscience, which is his spy in our bosoms, and causes a dreadful apparition of sin in its view. When one beam of Christ's divinity broke forth in the miraculous draught of fishes; Peter cries out, "depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Luke 5. 8. Holiness armed with terror strikes á sinner into consternation. Now when the mind is shaken with a storm of fear, it cannot calmly' attend to the counsels of wisdom. But the Son of God appearing in our nature, to expiate sin, and appease divine justice, we are encouraged to draw near to him, and sit at his feet, to hear the 6 words of eternal life.” Thus God complied with our necessity, that with a freer dispensation we might receive the counsels of our Saviour. a |