4. SERM. IV. The First Sermon on the Excellency of Christ.
SERM. IV. The First Sermon on the Excellency of Christ.
T here is nothing of greater concernment, than to know God, and his Son whom he hath sent into the world, Even this is eternal life, saith
Christ. We have therefore endeavored to open somewhat to you concerning God, that you may have right apprehensions of him, of that God with whom you have to deal, out of that Scripture in Psal. 148:13. His Name alone is excellent, his glory is above the earth and heaven, and concluded what for the present I intended to present before you about God, with the meditation of the excellency of the state of those who have this God to be their God, who is thus excellent and glorious; The Church makes her boast of her interest in God, in Psal. 84:14. For this God is our God: Oh happy are they that having heard what a glorious God, God is, are able to say, This God is our God, this is my God in whom my soul hath interest! And if the Name of God be so excellent and glorious, as you have heard, there is infinite cause that we should fear him, and sanctify his Name in our conversations, Job
13:11. Shall not his Excellency make you afraid? Oh where is that soul that shall dare to walk before this God with boldness and presumptuousness,
considering what a God he is that it hath to deal with? Shall not that excellency of his that hath been opened unto you, make you afraid, and cause you to fear such a God? Now then having spoken somewhat about the Excellency of God, and what apprehensions we are to have of God in all our ways, we are now to speak somewhat concerning the Excellency of Christ, and to show you what apprehensions you are to have of Jesus Christ,
For this is eternal life, to know thee, and thy Son; to know God, and not to know him in Christ, is to very little purpose. It is no saving knowledge of God, if we were able to discourse never so much of him, except we know him in Jesus Christ, in his Son. And therefore for the knowledge of Christ, which I shall endeavor to present as briefly as I did the knowledge of God,
You may be pleased to turn to that Scripture in Isa. 9, part of ver. 6, only in these words, And his Name shall be called Wonderful.
If you read this verse, and that that follows, you might think that you were rather reading an Evangelist, than a Prophet, one rather relating a History of what was done, than a Prophecy of what was to be done. Isaiah here prophesies clearly of Christ, as if he had been come at that time, and yet it was between seven and eight hundred years before the coming of Christ that this Prophecy was, Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the Government shall be upon his shoulder; And his Name shall be called
Wonderful. But it is the usual way of Scripture to set before us things to be done, as if they were already done, to note the certainty of what God reveals to be done, and faith will make things that are not, to be, as if they were really present. And indeed, faith never hath a proper work so much as in this, in making things that are not present, to be as if they were present, to make them real. It was a time of great distress and trouble to the Church
God, when this Prophecy was, as will appear from the seventh Chapter even unto this Prophesy. And frequently we find in Scripture in times of the greatest distress of the Church, there were the clearest Prophesies of Christ, of the Messias to come. Jacob Prophesies of Shiloh when he was in Egypt; and Daniel of the Messias when he was in Captivity, in Babylon; and Isaiah here, To us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, whose Name is
Wonderful Counselor, the mighty God, when the people were in great distress. And there are four reasons why the Lord would have the Prophesy of the Messias, at those times especially, when the Church was in a sad, in a suffering condition.
First, Because that the only comfort of all the Saints of God then, was their expectation of the Messias to come, God would therefore propound
Christ unto them as that that might lighten all their darkness, that might sweeten all their sorrows, and troubles; and indeed there was enough in this, in their expectation of the Savior that was to come, this was that that made their hearts rejoice in the midst of all their sorrows; Abraham saw his day and rejoiced, and was glad.
Secondly, Therefore had they the clear manifestation of Christ in the time of their outward troubles, to confirm their faith in this, that how-ever their enemies prevailed much against them, yet it was impossible that they should root out the Nation of the Jews, for the great Savior of the world was to come out of them, therefore they were under God's protection, and though they might suffer somewhat, yet they could not cease from being a Nation, because that the Messias was to come out from them, and this was a great encouragement unto them to expect mercy from God, because they were a people that the Lord would bring the great Savior of the world out of.
And then thirdly, That by the propounding of so great a mercy as Jesus Christ should be to the world, they might hereby have a help to their faith, that surely God would not deny them lesser mercies: what great matter was it for them to expect from God deliverance from some outward affliction, when as God makes known unto them, that love, and that infinite compassion, those tender bowels of his, even to send his own Son into the world for them?
And then fourthly, It was to teach them this, that the way of deliverance from any outward affliction, it was to exercise their faith upon Christ the Messiah that was to come, the Lord would teach his Church when it was in afflictions, not so much to be looking at the present affliction that was upon them, and so to seek for outward help and means of deliverance, but would have them exercise their faith upon the Messiah that was to come, though many hundred years after; and this exercise of faith was so pleasing to God, as it was the only means, or the chief means of deliverance from all outward afflictions: Nay, saith God, if so be that they will rely upon me, and exercise their faith upon that great promise of mine, to send my Son into the world, as for their deliverance out of these outward troubles and afflictions, it shall be but a little matter for me to do that for them; ordinarily when we are exercised with outward afflictions, we only think of some natural helps and comforts, contrary to those particular afflictions that are upon us, whereas the way indeed for us to sanctify God's Name, to do that that is acceptable to God when any outward affliction befalls us, it is presently to exercise our faith upon the great promise of God in Jesus Christ, upon the great
Covenant of Grace, that God hath made with us in him, upon that great mercy of God in sending his Son into the world; my condition is very sad, and I am grievously afflicted, I but surely that mercy that would send Jesus
Christ into the world, that mercy is enough to deliver me out of any affliction, or at least to bless it to me; therefore do not only cry to God when you are sick, or in trouble to deliver you from it, but labor to exercise faith upon the Covenant of Grace in Christ, upon that glorious mercy of God in his Son, that is the way that God would have us to sanctify his Name in.
And that is the reason why in times of great affliction, there were such clear Prophesies of Jesus Christ, as here in my Text, For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and his Name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor,
&c. Now in this latter part of this verse, we have Christ set out unto us in five notable and famous Titles of his.
His Name is, 1. Wonderful, 2. Counselor, 3. The Mighty God, 4. The Everlasting Father, 5. The Prince of Peace.
I intend only to speak of the first, His Name shall be called Wonderful, because I would have some kind of proportion between what I have presented to you about God, and what I shall about Christ: And as for other things more largely about God or Christ, it may be afterwards, but only now
I shall desire to present Christ unto you in this one Title of his, His Name shall be called Wonderful. From whence the Point is this,
Jesus Christ is the great Wonder of the world.
That is our point of Doctrine: God himself, above seven hundred years before he was born, gives him this Name Wonderful; in the 19th of this
Prophecy, ver. 20, we read of a Savior, a Great one (saith the Text) surely Jesus Christ he is a Savior, and a Great one, he is the Wonder of the world.
Judg. 13:17,18. The story of the Angels appearing unto Manoah, Manoah would fain know his name, And Manoah said unto the Angel of the Lord,
What is thy Name? Ver. 18, the Angel of the Lord said unto him, Why askest thou after my name, seeing it is secret? Now the word that is translated in your books Secret, it is a word that signifies Wonderful; And Austin in his Questions upon this Book of Judges, he is confident that this
Angel was Jesus Christ, and that his ascending up in the sacrifice that Manoah offered, it was to fore-signify Jesus Christ to be the only Sacrifice that should ascend up to the Father, for a sweet savor in the nostrils of the Father; it was Jesus Christ that did appear here to Manoah, and his Name is
Wonderful. Luther hath such a speech (I remember) of Christ, saith he, the most famous and wonderful and glorious Miracle of all Miracles is, Jesus
Christ, he is the Wonder of the world; God is very wonderful in all his works; in the works of Creation, Psal. 8:1. Oh Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name? And in the end of the Psalm. Oh Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy Name in all the earth? Yea in that one work of his in making of our bodies, Psal. 139:14. I am fearfully and wonderfully made, (saith the Psalmist) God hath made our very bodies fearfully and wonderfully, it is a wonderful work of God the framing of our bodies in the womb. It was a means of the conversion of Gallen from Atheism, he saw the Anatomy of a man's body, and beholding the wonderful work of a man's body, it did force him to acknowledge the God of Nature, that there was a being above
Nature: Now though God be wonderful in all his works, yet all his wonderful works in the Heavens, and in the Earth, and in the Seas, they must all stand by, and give way to this great Wonder; as the Stars, though they be glorious creatures in themselves, yet when the Sun arises, all their light is eclipsed, you see nothing of them; so though God hath many
wonders in the world, and hath done many wonderful works, yet when the Son of Righteousness doth arise, when Jesus Christ comes to appear, all the other works of God are darkened with the glory of this great Wonder; other things are wonderful unto us because of our ignorance, because we are not able to understand the reason of things; things are wonderful to children, that are little regarded by wise men, and understanding men; Ignorance makes men to wonder at many things that have nothing in them; but Christ he is a Wonder, so as God himself, the Father accounted him a Wonder, God himself gives unto Jesus Christ this Name Wonderful; and no marvel, though he be a wonder to the Angels themselves in Heaven, 1 Pet. 1:12. The Angels are said to desire to look into the things of the Gospel. To pry into them. They stoop down to pry into those things of the Gospel. Great is the mystery of godliness in Christ Jesus: Oh there are many glorious mysteries of godliness in Jesus Christ, And such things as eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither can enter into the heart of man to conceive, as the Scripture saith in 1 Cor. 2:9, yea, they are revealed only by the Spirit of God that searches all things, yea the deep things of God; the Spirit that searches the deep things of God, must reveal the things of the Gospel unto that soul that ever comes to the knowledge of them. It was a work of the Spirit of God to instruct Bezaleel and Aholiab in those Arts of Workmanship, to work in Brass, and the like, it is a work of God's Spirit to show a man the reason of the things of nature; but now when God's Spirit comes to reveal Christ to the soul, for it is the Spirit of God that searches the deep things of God; this puts an emphasis upon it, showing that the things of the Gospel are deep things, they are things that only are revealed by God's Spirit, and not by an ordinary work of God's Spirit, but by an extraordinary work of the Spirit of God, that Spirit that searches the deep
things of God must declare these things to any soul that comes to the understanding of them.
His Name is Wonderful. Now surely he that God spake so much of before he came into the world, he that so many wise men and Prophets did so long to see, he that was the expectation and joy of the whole Church of God from the beginning of the world, before he came; he that was so typified out by all the Sacrifices and Types of the Old Testament, by the Temple, that was the wonder of the world at that time; He that when he came into the world, had his birth solemnized by the Angels, a heavenly Choir singing
Doxologies; He that had upon his first coming the wise men from the East coming to worship him, surely he must be some wonderful one, some great one; and therefore as we read of the people in Luk. 1:66, when they saw and heard of such strange things at John Baptists birth, the Text saith, All they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of Child shall this be? So when we hear of these things that were done by way of preparation to the coming of Christ, for some two thousand years together, and such great things that were done upon his coming, surely it must needs be some wonderful one. What manner of Child is this that is given to us?
Wherefore then as we read of Moses in Exod. 9:9, when he saw that wonderful sight in the wilderness, the bush burning and not consumed, saith
Moses, I will go and see what yonder great sight is; So we may well say, when Christ is propounded thus Wonderful, and God himself gives him this
Name, let us take off our thoughts from all other things, and turn aside to see this great sight, to see what this Wonder is. Therefore for the opening of this Wonder that is in Christ, to show you how Christ is Wonderful, and how well he may challenge this Name, and how proper this Title is to him, to be called Wonderful, I shall open it in these several particulars.
First, Christ is wonderful in his Natures.
Secondly, Christ is wonderful in his Person.
Thirdly, He is wonderful in the manner of his Incarnation.
Fourthly, He is wonderful in the wonderful work that he came for into the world, the wonderful things that he came to do.
Fifthly, He is wonderful in his Anointment, in his Offices.
Sixthly, He is wonderful in his admirable Endowments.
Seventhly, He is wonderful in his glorious Miracles that he wrought.
Eighthly, He is wonderful in that great glory of God the Father that appears in him.
Ninthly, He is wonderful in the work of his Humiliation.
Tenthly, He is wonderful in his Conquest.
Eleventhly, Wonderful in his Exaltation, and the degrees of it.
Twelfthly, Wonderful in his Saints.
Lastly, he is wonderful, and shall be wonderful in the highest heavens, in the Church Triumphant: and in all these regards, we shall see what a wonderful Savior we have, and what kind of thoughts we are to have of Jesus Christ. As certainly for the want of the right understanding of God, and the low thoughts and apprehensions we have of him, the Name of God is little sanctified among us; so for the want of the right understanding of Jesus Christ, Oh how little is the Name of God sanctified in the mysteries of the Gospel? We have the word (God) we can say that God made us; and so the word Christ, and we hope to be saved by Jesus Christ, But oh, how far are we either from apprehending God, such an infinite and glorious God as he hath already, though very darkly, been set out unto you? And so before we have done, though it be but in a Sermon or two, you will find that your thoughts of Jesus Christ have been too low and too mean: Oh that we could
by any means heighten your thoughts upon God and Christ, that you may know the Lord, and his Son whom he hath sent into the world.
First, Christ is wonderful in his Natures.
These Heads that I have propounded, they all might be largely insisted on, but I think it best at first, to give you a short view of things, and to present them together as briefly as I may. Wonderful in his Natures, for he is God and man; our Savior is God, and so he is set forth unto us afterwards, the Mighty God, and is not this a wonderful thing, that mankind fallen from God, should have no less Savior than the Mighty God himself? If all the Angels in Heaven, and men in the world, had undertaken to have been the Savior's of one soul, they could never have done it, they could never have accomplished what they had undertaken; such is the state of man, as if ever he be saved, he must have a Savior above the Angels, above all the strength that there is in all the Angels in heaven, and creatures in all the world, he is that God that you have heard of, whose Name is alone excellent, whose glory is above the heavens and earth, but that we should be saved only by God, may seem to some to be no such great wonder, who can save us but God? I but know, that here it is not God putting forth an Attribute to save us, but it is God undertaking this relation of a Savior, and God putting himself in another condition (as it were) and taking upon him our nature, therefore that is that indeed that makes the wonder, God-Man,
Theanthropos, 1 Tim. 3:16. Great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifested in the flesh, This is a wonderful mystery; that there should be such a word, Theanthropos, God-Man, is the greatest wonder that ever there was in the world, that there should be such a thing as should be called GodMan, and is really and verily God and man together in one; I say, this is the greatest wonder that ever was in the world, that the Divine and human
Nature should be joined together, that we should have a Savior that is as verily man as God, and as verily God as man, that those two Natures, the Nature of God, and the nature of man should come together in one, that were so distant before one from another, this is a wonder beyond all sense and reason, and we had need have a Prospective-glass of God to be able to see indeed anything into it; we can easily believe (we think) that Christ was
God and man, every child can do so; when you ask your children what Christ was, you teach them that he was both God and man, I, but I appeal to you, when were your hearts taken with this as the greatest wonder in the world, that there should be ever such a thing as God and man in one, and that to be the Savior of mankind? That man, that is miserable, should look up to God to save him, look up to the mercy of God, this were not so wonderful, but that miserable man must be saved by one that is God-Man,
Man and God, this is that that except the Spirit of God that searches the deep things of God (as you had it before) reveal it unto a man, it were impossible for man ever to have such a thought as this is; and indeed, the setting out of this so great a mystery, is one great argument, that the Scriptures are Divine: for it is too high a thing to have entered into the thought of a creature; I say, too high a thing that ever a creature should have such a thought, that the saving of man must be by God's being man, it cannot be imagined how such a thought could have come into a creature, to be verily man (I say) this argues the Scripture to be from God, it is too great a mystery for any creature ever to have imagined or thought of; it is that that is the stumbling-block to the Jews, and foolishness to the Gentiles; but the power and glory of God to those that shall be saved. If God should have put this unto us, and said, Well, I am inclined to do good to you, and willing to save you, but know, your estate is such as you can never be saved, except
there be such a Savior, such a Mediator for you, as must be God and man both; why certainly both Angels and Men would have stood amazed at this, and have concluded, that the estate of Man-kind is desperate then, if so be that the estate of man that is fallen from God, and hath sinned against him, be such as there is no way to deliver one soul from eternal condemnation, and eternal wrath, but by such a Savior as must be both God and man: I say,
All Angels and Men, would have even concluded, then man must perish forever: but it is God, the Wonder-working God that hath wrought thus for Mankind, which hath sent us such a Savior as is both God and Man; Surely then his Name may be called Wonderful.
Christ is wonderful in his Person.
But Secondly, Here is a greater wonder than that, God is God and man.
God and man (you will say) that may be, he hath come in the similitude of flesh, and hath taken the shape of man, some kind of union there may be between the Divine and human Nature; but consider this second Wonder, he is not only God, but a second Person in Trinity: Consider these two things in the Person of Christ, First, He is to be looked at, not merely as God, but as God the second Person of the Trinity, and this is a great wonder in Christian Religion, for it was little known before. We read but little in the Old Testament about the Trinity, only in Christ the Trinity comes to be known; when we are in straits we will cry to God that made the heavens and earth to be a Savior; but for us to know that we must be saved by God in the Second Person, that is the character and engraven form of his Image, the Son of God, and yet so the Son of God as he is Co-eternal with his Father, equal with his Father, as the Scripture speaks, and so God the Second
Person in Trinity, as yet he is of the same Nature that his Father is of, the same God, and yet the Son of God, the consideration of the mystery of the
Trinity, that appears in Christ, is a great wonder above reason, that we may adore it, but search into it we are not able.
And then the second thing to be considered in his Person is this, That he is not only God and man, but God and man hypostatically united, the union of the Natures, that these Natures should be united both in one Person, this is the great wonder in Christian Religion.
There are two principal Wonders in Christian Religion; I beseech you consider aright of them.
The first is divers Persons in one Nature.
The second is divers Natures in one Person.
These are the two Wonders in Christian Religion.
First, divers Persons in one Nature, and that is the wonder of the Trinity, for there you have but one Nature, the Divine Nature, but three Persons,
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and that is a Wonder that the Heathens knew nothing of, and was little known till Christ came.
And the second Wonder in Christian Religion is, divers Natures in one Person, that is in Christ; Christ is God-man, but one Person united hypostatically; now to search into this, that the same Person that is God, is man, and how the human nature subsists in the Deity, and hath no subsistence at all in its self, but in the Deity, how this is, only the Scripture reveals it to be so, but how it is (I say) is too deep a sea for any creature to wade into, we must stand and admire it, and adore God in it, that hath revealed this as the object of our faith, but to be able to search how such a thing can be, that that union can be in one person, this is that that is a wonder above all admiration: Indeed it is one of the most wonderful works that ever God did in the world, to unite two such creatures that seemed to be of such distant Natures, as the body of man, and the Soul of man in one
Person; to unite a piece of earth, and a piece of flesh, to such a glorious thing as a rational immortal soul is, the union of these two together in one person is the greatest work, for the works of Nature, that ever God did in the world; David saw his body wonderfully and fearfully made; but certainly the union of the body and soul, the soul being of the same nature with the Angels, that it should be united with the body to make but one
Person, this is a great wonder in the works of Nature: But to unite the second Person in Trinity to the nature of man, not to the nature of Angels, for so the Scripture saith, Christ did not take upon him the nature of Angels, but the seed of Abraham; for if Christ would have been united to another nature, one would have thought it should have been to an Angelical nature, but to refuse that, and take man's nature, and unite it in one Person, that so it should be said that that Person that is God, the same Person is man, Here is the great Wonder in Christian Religion, the Personal union of the Natures of Christ; and indeed from hence many wonderful things will arise.
As from hence, that same Person that was the Creator of all the world was a creature; the same Person, I do not say the same Nature, this is the wonder in Scripture. And he, the same Person that is the Lord of Man-kind, yet is the Son of Man, the Son of Man, and yet the Lord of Mankind.
The same Person that is Eternal, Immortal, yet he died, so the Scripture saith, They crucified the Lord of glory: What, can God that is the Lord of glory, that made heaven and earth, the Eternal God, whose Name alone is excellent, can he be crucified? Yet that Person that was the Lord of glory, whose Name alone is glorious, that Person was crucified, but suffered in his human nature; whatsoever Christ did suffer in his human nature, it may be said that that Person that was God did suffer, though not the Divine Nature, the Divine Nature could not suffer, but the same Person that was God as
well as man he did suffer; it is the Scripture phrase clearly, and I might give you many Texts of Scripture to show you that that person that was God, suffered, but that is enough, They crucified the Lord of glory, 1 Cor. 2:8.
But you will say, to what great purpose is it for us to understand this, that Christ was God and man in one Person, is it not enough to understand that he was God and man? What need we look so much at the union of the two
Natures? My brethren, Know that there is a great deal in this, in knowing the union of the two Natures. It is of marvelous use unto you for the helping of your faith, to know not only that Christ had those two Natures, but the union of those two Natures.
You will say, How may it help our faith?
Thus, because hereby you may see that whatsoever Christ did, or suffered, though but in his human nature, yet it was of infinite value and efficacy, and the infinite value and efficacy of what Christ did and suffered, doth arise from the union of the two Natures, because it was that Person that was God, did such things, and suffered such things. I remember I myself once knew a very godly man in the time of his sickness was in a great Agony, under a very great temptation, and at Midnight sent a mile or two for a Minister, and he comes to him, and this was his temptation: Fearing he should die, and the Devil came with this temptation, Why, thy sin doth deserve an infinite punishment, thou hast sinned against an infinite God, and thou dost deserve eternal death; but Christ in whom you have trusted, he being man, and suffering only in his human nature, he could suffer only that that was finite, and his death was but a few days, a day or two, how can he by suffering that that was but finite, by enduring a little while pain upon the Cross, and by being under death but a day or two, how can he deliver you from an infinite suffering, and from eternal death? This was the temptation that lay upon
him, and he was in a most lamentable agony of spirit upon this temptation; but now in his calling to mind this, that though Christ in his human Nature was but finite, and that that he suffered could be but finite, yet because his human nature was united in one Person unto the Divine Nature, hence what the human nature did suffer, though finite, came to be of infinite value and worth, and though his death that he was under, was but for a day or two, yet it was of merit sufficient to ransom from eternal death, because the Person that was God as well as man, was under the power of death; and by recalling what he had heard heretofore about Christ being God and man in one Person, he came to be eased, and the Temptation began to vanish; and the truth is, there is no way that I know of, to satisfy ones heart and conscience in the sufficiency of Christ's merits, but in this, that it was the merit of him that was both God and man in one Person. It is true, those that do not see a necessity of an infinite merit, they can easily satisfy themselves, and say they believe in Christ Jesus that died for them. I but how canst thou tell that this death of Jesus Christ is of infinite merit to satisfy the infinite Justice of God that requires satisfaction for thy sin? Why
God hath so appointed it, and I hope in God it is so; but if thou canst see the ground of this, that will be a marvelous help to thy faith, that thou canst look upon thy Mediator as God and man in one Person, and therefore thou canst look upon whatsoever he hath done or suffered as of infinite value, and so thou canst present it with boldness unto God. The right understanding of Christ thus, will help us to honor Christ much, and will make him to be a further object of our faith. Thus Christ is wonderful in his
Person, in his Person as relating to God the Father, the second Person in Trinity; So in his Person, that is, his human and Divine Nature united into one Person.
Christ Wonderful in the manner of his Incarnation.
Thirdly, Well may he have this Title of Wonderful, seeing he is such a one as he is, thus opened unto you. But thirdly, Christ his Name is wonderful, he is wonderful in the manner of his Incarnation. Christ he is God and man; but how came Christ to take man's nature upon him? It was a wonderful and a strange kind of way that the second Person in Trinity came to take our nature upon him, it was by being conceived by the Holy Ghost, by being born of a Virgin; Christ was man, and came from man, but not by man; the way of Christ's generation it is wonderful, Oh who can declare it? We ordinarily can say, we do believe that Christ was born of a Virgin, born of the Virgin Mary, who cannot repeat his Creed? But I appeal to you, when were your hearts ever taken with the wonderful work of God in the Incarnation of Christ, that way of being born of a Virgin? God faith that he will do a great and marvelous thing; For a Virgin shall conceive a Son, it is such a thing as never was done before since the world began, nor never shall be done again; the ordinary manner of the generation of man was here stopped, when Christ came to be born, saith God, I will have a new way of generation, for indeed there was a great Lord to be born into the world, a great Prince, and he must be born after another way different from the ordinary way of Mankind, in a wonderful way, the Holy Ghost being the cause of the conception, and so brought forth by a Virgin: You will say,
Why was this? Here indeed consists the wonder that we are to sanctify God's Name in, not only to know that it was after such a way, and not as Adam was, he was made man, but he must be made man in such a marvelous way: You will say, why could not Christ come into the world after the ordinary manner of generation? You will answer to yourselves,
God would have it so, but there is something of God's mind that he would
have you know why he would have it so: If Christ had been made man after the ordinary manner of generation, he could not have been made free from Adams sin, from original corruption, for the Law did lie upon Adam, and his Posterity, against all that should come from him in the ordinary way of generation, therefore if Christ now should have come from him in the ordinary way, if he had been of the seed of Adam, then he must have been under the Covenant that Adam was, for it was to all his posterity, Adam was to stand as a public person, unto his posterity, and in him we were to stand or fall. (Now whether there might have been any other way or no for Christ to have been freed from it, we will not stand to dispute.) But now Christ was freed from the Covenant, so as he was not now under original guilt, under original corruption, because he was conceived by the Holy Ghost, he was conceived, not after the ordinary way of men, whereas you are to know, that all your children coming into the world after the ordinary way of generation, coming from man, by man, the first minute that their souls and bodies are together, that the child is alive in the womb, it comes under the guilt of Adams transgression, and comes to be originally corrupted, presently full of sin and corruption; but it was not so in Christ, and this is the wonder of Christ's Generation, that he was conceived by the Holy
Ghost, and born of a Virgin, and so free from all kind of original sin; had there been the least sin upon Christ, he could never have been a Savior for thee, nor any, therefore Christ must come into the world in such a way as there must be no sin upon him at all, and this is the reason why he was born of a Virgin, and not after the ordinary course of Mankind, and therefore his
Name may well be called Wonderful, from the wonderful manner of his Incarnation.
Christ wonderful in his Works.
In the fourth place, Christ is wonderful in the wonderful Works that he came about into the world; the work that Christ came into the world about, is the greatest, and the most wonderful Work that ever was undertaken since the world began, or can possibly be undertaken: Why what was the Work that Christ came into the world about?
It was first to stand between God, the angry God, God provoked with man's sin, and sinful man. It was to be a Mediator between God and his creature, it was to reconcile God and man together that had sinned against him, and was turned enemy to him; the Work that Christ came to do, it was to make up all the wrongs that sin had done, that sin had brought to God,
Christ came to make up the vast infinite breach that there was made between God and man, so to procure Reconciliation for man, as to make
God amends for all the sin that had been committed, here is the work that Christ undertook, he undertook to pacify the wrath of God his Father, in such a way, as that it should be let out upon him, and he would bear what ever fruits of God's wrath was due to the sin of man, he came (I say) into the world for to reconcile God and man, to make up all the breach, and to make restitution of all things; not only to make up the breach that was made between God and man by man's sin, but to make up the restitution of all things; whereas by man's sin all the works of God in this world had almost been frustrated, and had man's sin gone on, God had not had the glory that he made the world for; now Christ he comes into the world to make up all again, that his Father might have full glory from all his Works. Yea the great
Work that he came into the world about, was, that he might bring this to pass, that God his Father should have further glory now from his work, than ever he should have had, if so be there had never been any breach made, here is the great work that Christ came into the world about, Christ
beholding, that through man's sin, all things were even brought to a confusion, Mans sin had plundered all the world (as it were) plundered the Works of God, and had brought all to darkness, and misery, and confusion, now Christ comes into the world to make all perfect again, and to raise up to God a Name of praise and glory, higher than ever he should have had if there never had been any sin committed against him; now was not this a wonderful work that Christ came into the world about? We speak much of Christ, and that he came into the world, but what came he for? Oh learn to sanctify God's Name in this, to look upon Christ whose Name is Wonderful, in regard not only of what he was in himself, but of what he came about, the great and wonderful work that he came into the world for, and did accomplish; and certainly did we apprehend Christ thus, and look upon Christ as having such a Name as this is, Wonderful, and know that upon this ground he is called Wonderful, it would teach us to adore him, to honor him, to magnify him, and to have high thoughts of him, it would be a mighty means to draw our hearts to believe in him, the very setting of Christ as he is in himself before the soul as the full object of faith, hath a mighty power to draw faith out; as the setting of a temptation before a man hath a power to draw corruptions; so the setting of Christ in his glory and excellency, in what he is, and what he came into the world for (I say) it hath a mighty power to draw forth faith, not only to draw forth faith where faith was before, but it hath a power to cause faith in the soul; Christ is not only an object for us to work upon when we have a faculty, but such an object as being set before the soul, hath a quickening power to cause life; therefore we cannot say, why should Jesus Christ be preached to a company of people as are dead in sins, I, Christ indeed is a glorious object, But they must have somewhat to work upon Christ. We must not say so, for Christ is not only
an object for the soul to work upon when it hath an eye to see, but such an object as the very setting of it before the soul, hath a quickening power to work life in the soul, to cause an eye to see him, and to cause the heart to make after him, though it was never so dead before: And it should be the work of Ministers to set Jesus Christ before the hearts of people, before their eyes continually, and though it may be there comes nothing of it this time, I but try it again, and though nothing comes of it the other time, but they pass all lightly by, and little regard the glory of God, that appears in Jesus Christ, yet he is to be set before them again and again; who knows when the quickening power and life may come from Christ? Now this is the scope of the setting Christ thus before you; This day I have endeavored to set him but a little before you in the opening this Title of his.
Let this be the Use of it, Oh when you go home, go and meditate of what hath been said, and labor when you are before God, which is the time for the exercising of your faith upon Christ, Labor to set Jesus Christ before your eyes, and look upon him as the great Wonder of the World, and never leave meditating until you find your heart come to this, to admire at the Glory of God in Jesus Christ; If ever your hearts were taken with admiration at anything in the World, Oh let them be taken up with the admiration of Jesus Christ; this may confidently be concluded upon, that that Soul that never found itself taken with admiring of the Glory of God in Christ, did never know what Christ meant; for Christ is such a kind of Savior, that if God do propound Christ to the Soul in any measure, it is impossible, but that the heart must be taken with him. There is a Savior sent into the World, he that is the Object of my faith, and by him my Soul shall be saved. Now the first work of the heart, is for to think this is too good to
be true, do not therefore think that you must be only saved by Jesus Christ, but know what manner of Savior it is, its he whose Name is Wonderful.