Book III
The fulness of abilities which are in Christ to accomplish the work of our
redemption, which are impossible to be found in any other person.
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou
wouldest not, but abody hast thouprepared me: in burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure : then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume
of the book it is written of me) to do thy will, God. Above, when he
said, Sacrifice, and offering, and burnt-offerings, and offering for sin thou
wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein ; which are offered by the law ; then said he, Lo, I come to do thy .will, God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. HEB. X. 4-10.
CHAPTER I.
The all-sufficient abilities to accomplish our redemption, demonstrated from God the Father s calling him. to it, which he would never have done had not he known him able. From God s engaging also to furnish him with
abilities. From Christ s undertaking it, which he did upon the knowledge which he had of himself, as equal to the great performance. From the
greatness and excellency of his person, who, being God-m,an, is able to do
anything. The reasons which induced God to fix on this way of salvation,
to be by the blood of his Son. An answer to that objection, how God is
said to pardon us freely by his grace, when yet he requires full satisfaction to be made.
HAVING at large laid open that sole peculiar fitness which is in Christ for the work of reconciliation, we will now come to discover likewise that all-
sufficient fulness of abilities in him for the accomplishment of this great work, in all particulars required to it. Which, first, in the general, your faith may be helped in the persuasion of by these demonstrations.
Demonstration 1. Because God the Father did call him to this great work. And had not Christ been fully able to bring you to heaven, without all pos
sibility of miscarriage, God would never have pitched upon him. Man may sometimes choose one for a place of office and honour, who yet is not suffi
cient to discharge it, because they are mistaken in men s abilities ; but God could not be mistaken, but must needs know, that Jesus Christ was able
to go through without miscarrying, and therefore he pitched upon him. In Ps. Ixxxix. 19, Then thou spakest in vision to the Holy One, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty ; I have exalted one chosen out
CHAP. I.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 69
of the people. That whole psalm is a prophecy of Christ, under the type of David, and hath in it much of the gospel, which is called the sure mer
cies of David. The state of the people of Israel when David came to the crown (if you take the psalm of the type David) was a shattered state ; Israel was a racked people, all was distracted, tottering, and broken ; Saul
their king, and Jonathan his son, slain ; themselves overcome and routed by the Philistines ; their religion, state, and all were desperate and staggering ; but God chose David, an able governor, to restore all, and so laid help on one that was mighty. In Ps. Ixxv., David speaking of his coming to the
government and kingdom, when I shall receive the congregation, ver. 2,
adds, ver. 3, The earth (namely, the land of Judea), and all the inha
bitants thereof, are out of course : I bear up the pillars of it. Now, he
therein was a type of Christ (who often in the prophets is called David) ; for when we were without strength, being captived by Satan, forlorn and
undone, and no creature able to help us, then did God lay help on one
that was mighty ; that is, he laid the task of saving us upon Christ, who was able to do it. Thus also, Heb. vii. 16, He was made a priest, not
after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless
life ; that is, he was armed with power to execute the office of priesthood for ever, and to overcome all difficulties ; and therefore he is said to have been made after the power of an endless life, and not after the law of a
carnal commandment, as other priests were. And, ver. 18, the apostle says their office was weak, and not able to bring things to perfection. Those priests were not able to satisfy God, nor to carry on the work ; but Christ had the power of an endless life, because Christ had power to lay down his life and take it up again, to survive the encounter of his Father s
wrath, and then to live for ever, and intercede for us, and so to go throughstitch with the work, and without once fainting, much less succumbing or
sinking under it, or failing in bringing it to its full perfection.
Demonst. 2. In that God called him, he undertook to make him able*; for besides that God knew Christ to be able, and therefore called him, it may be further said, that in calling him he undertook to make him able. Men, if they find one not able for an office to which he is called, cannot
give him abilities ; but God, when he gives a call, gives likewise abilities. Thus of Christ it is said, Isa. xlii. 1, 4, 6,
* Behold my servant, whom I
uphold ; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth
: I have put my Spirit upon him : he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not
fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth : and the
isles shall wait for his law. I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles.
* Behold my servant, whom I
* mine elect, whom I have called in righteousness. That
uphold, saith he;
is, I have both called him to this office, and that in righteousness. I have not forced it on him, nor put him upon this hard task unwillingly. (1.) He is my elect; I chose him of all that ever were or shall be. (2.) I have
called him in righteousness ; that is, he being not unwilling to undertake
it, but consenting to it. And (3.) I promised faithfully to stand by him, and not to leave him in it. And (4.) He being my servant in it, therefore
certainly I will uphold him through it, as it is, ver. 6. God promiseth that he will
* hold his hand, that he sink not (even as Christ held up Peter by the hand from sinking), and will keep him so as (ver. 4), he shall not fail or fall short to accomplish the work of mediation, in the least tittle ; nor shall he be discouraged, or (as it is in the original) broken (and yet he was
70 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BOOK III.
to undergo that, which would have broken the backs of men and angels, and have pushed them all to hell), but he shall be backed with all the power that God hath, even that he hath who made the heavens (as it follows, ver. 5), which he mentions as engaging all that power in it. Demonst. 3. Christ was willing to undertake it, and therefore surely he knew himself able to go through with it, for otherwise he would never have undertaken it. A wise man will not undertake an enterprise which he is not able to manage and go through with ; and Christ much less, he being the Wisdom of his Father. He will not do as a foolish builder that sets upon a work which he is not able to finish. What wise man will enter into bond for another, for more than himself is worth, and so run a hazard of lying in prison all the days of his life ? Surely no wise man will do
this ; and much less would Christ undertake to be our surety, if he had
thought himself insufficient to pay ; therefore certainly he knew that he was able to perfect and consummate the great work of our reconciliation before he took it upon him.
Demonst. 4. In that he is God as well as man, therefore he must needs be able for any undertaking, be it never so hazardous. If it had been pos sible for his Father to have forsaken him (as he complained that for a time he did), and afford him no succour, no support, but leave him to himself,
nay, do his utmost against him, and make known against him the power of his wrath (as indeed he did), yet he is able alone to uphold himself, for
that the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily in him, Col. ii. 9, and
therefore there was an impossibility of miscarriage, as you have it, Acts
ii. 24, It was not possible that he should have been held under the pangs of death. If anything would have held him, it would have been death and hell ; for then his power was put to it to raise himself; but it was impos sible that he should be held by them, because he was God. It is one of
his great names, Isa. ix. 7, that he is the mighty God : therefore he is
mighty and able to save himself and others.
Now the particulars of all that salvation whereunto this all-sufficiency of
his is required, are man}^ ; as (not to name all) to make your peace, par don your sins, bring you into favour, send his Spirit into your hearts, to
change them, and dwell there for ever, to subdue your enemies, defend and
keep you blameless unto the great day, and then to raise you up, and glo
rify you for ever.
But the foundation of all these lies in that all-sufficiency that was found
in Christ to satisfy for sin and to justify sinners ; for by that satisfaction
siri was removed, which before did separate between God and us, and was a hindrance of all blessings from descending upon us ; for there cannot be so much as peace whilst sin remains ; and by Christ s satisfaction sin
being removed, then likewise all the blessings wherein salvation consists, and which God s free favour intended to bestow, were also purchased by him. And however that the application of all be performed by degrees,
yet the purchase of all was laid in that one satisfaction of his, ere he
offered to set a foot out of the grave. And therefore, Heb. x., he is said,
* by that one offering (which was the great and last payment), to have for
ever perfected those that are sanctified; that is, to have done all that which was to be done for that blessed estate of perfection which he was to
bring them unto. The allsufficiency of which satisfaction is that particular
subject that we are now to handle, the opening of which we reduce to
these two heads :
I. More generally ; That in Christ, and him alone, there was an all-
CHAP. I.J OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 71
sufficiency or fulness of abilities to be found, to satisfy for sin, and to jus
tify sinners.
II. More particularly ; That all the several particular parts of, and what
is requisite to complete the justification of a sinner, are fully found in
Christ s satisfaction : so that there is in it a fulness and perfection of parts also.
I. For the first of these, viz., That in Christ, and in him alone, there is an allsufficiency to satisfy for sin, and to justify sinners, I will (as a
ground for it) take for my text Heb. x. 4-10, For it is not possible that
the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me : in burntofferings and sacrifices for
sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of
the book it is written of me) to do thy will, God. Above, when he said,
Sacrifice, and offering, and burnt-offerings, and offering for sin thou wouldest
not, neither hadst pleasure therein (which are offered by the law) ; then said
he, Lo, I come to do thy will, God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
For the opening of this point out of these words we will proceed by
degrees, first premising such observations as shall make way for the clear
ing of it.
Obs. 1. You see that the project that he mentioneth is the taking away of sins ; and nothing had been more easy for God to have done. He might have taken away the sins by taking away the sinners, and so have made
short work of it, taking them both out of the way at one stroke, by which course he might have caused sin to cease, as Ezekiel speaks, Ezek. xxiii. 48. But this is not his meaning ; for his purpose is, so to take away sins as the sinners might stand still ; that is, that they might stand in judgment, and be justified in his sight. There are some even among sinners whom he bears a secret good-will unto, and hath done so from everlasting ; but
their sins have separated between him and them, and he would fain sepa rate their sins as far off from them, that so he might draw near to them, and communicate himself fully and freely unto them. And because sin is a burden which they can neither stand under nor throw off themselves :
* a wounded spirit who can bear ? and further, they can never give thanks
enough for his benefits received, much less satisfy for sins ; therefore he
resolves to have them took off, as the word apaigtfv seems to signify.
But then again, for to take away sins only is but half the design. The 4th verse indeed mentions no more, because the blood of bulls could not do so much ; yet that same will of God, mentioned in the 7th verse, had a further aim, not only to take away sins, that he might not hate us, but
further to give us such a righteousness as for which he might have more cause
to love us than ever, and loving to delight in us. His will meant not only peace or pardon to us, but grace and favour. It was as they sang, Luke
* peace on earth. His will is
ii. 14, Goodwill towards men, as well as
: Eph. i.
to have us adopted and graciously accepted, as well as pardoned
5, 6, Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
But then again, thus to have taken sins off from them might have been done by a sole, free act of pardon passed from him, and he needed not to
72 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BOOK III.
have made any more ado about it. I dare not say the contrary, as some are bold to do ; for this reason sways with me, namely, to punish sin being but an act of his will (as all his other works ad extra are), and not of his nature ; for what is the reason else that he sometimes suspends the punish ing of wicked men, out of the riches of his forbearance ? It is because to
punish them is but an act of his will. If it were an act of his nature, then whosoever sinned should die for it immediately ; but it being an act of his
will, he may suspend it, as he oftentimes doth. And if for a while he thus
forbears, why might he not have done so for ever, and so wholly pardon ?
Surely there is no reason to the contrary. To hate sin indeed is an act of his nature, but to express his hatred by punishing is an act of his will, and therefore might be wholly suspended. And that which yet further confirms me in it is, that Christ, when he prayed that the cup might pass from him, Mark xiv. 36, useth this argument, All things are possible to thee. The thing he entreated for was, that the cup might be taken away ; and he intimates this as the ground of his prayer, that it was possible to God, that notwithstanding he was resolved to have the world saved, yet to have that end of his brought about another way, though in view there is none that we know of but this. Now there was a truth in this, else Christ would not have used it as an argument to this purpose. The impossibility lay only in. God s will to have it done by Christ s satisfaction, and no way else ; which therefore Christ submitted unto not my will, but thine be done only nature in him, to shew its averseness to that cup as simply in itself considered, sought a diversion. And to shew that there was another way, he useth this as the greatest argument, thereby the more to set forth his and his Father s love, that he yet underwent this most
difficult one.
Obs. 2. Therefore, secondly, observe in the general, that for to take away sins God takes means into consideration. Why else do bulls and goats come into consideration here ? He means not to use his sole prerogative in it, but to do it fairly ; and though by a bare act of his will he might have done it, yet his will working by counsel, Eph. i. 11, he thought it not so fit to do it. The apostle therefore speaks of blood here, and in Heb.
ix. 22, 23, he also says, that without blood there is no remission. He
will have blood for satisfaction ; and, ver. 23, the apostle makes it a
necessity that there should be sacrifices, yea, better sacrifices than the blood of bulls and goats. It was necessary (says he), not absolutely, but
in regard of God s resolution to satisfy justice. And therefore the heathens
offered sacrifices to pacify their incensed gods ; this thought being innate
in every man s nature, that God must be satisfied, the reasons of which
(namely, why God required satisfaction) I shewed in that first part of the
story of the gospel* (in God s eternal transaction with Jesus Christ), only I
will now but use the ground of it which lies in the text itself.
1. Consider that the project is to take away sins (as hath been shewed); and then for to make way for the manifestation of this it was necessary to
give a law, which might both discover what sin was, and how heinous ; and also shew by a threatening annexed, that punishment which it naturally deserves, and what the sinner might in justice expect from God. This was
necessary; for otherwise, where there is no law there is no transgression; at leastwise sin is not imputed where there is no law, Eom. v. 13, and then there would have been no sins actually capable of mercy, or none to
pardon. Now then, upon God s giving this law, he ipso facto takes upon * Qu. Glory of the Gospel ? In Vol. IV. of this series of his works. ED.
CHAP. I.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 73
him to be a judge, and the judge of all the world ; for in the very making of
the law he declares himself to be so. So then he is engaged, upon many
strong motives, to shew his justice against sin, in punishing it according as he had threatened (as I then shewed).
2. Consider that if he hath satisfaction it must be perfect and full ; for why else is the blood of bulls and goats here rejected, and that with an
impossibility ; It is not possible that they should take away sins but because his end was to have perfect satisfaction ? It is true he might have
accepted of that for an acceptilation (as they call it), which should not so fully have answered his justice ; for if he might have pardoned without any satis
faction at all, then certainly he might have accepted of so much or so little.
If he might wholly pardon he might then abate, and take but something. And the reason of it is the same with the former ; for it being an act of his
will, he might (as Christ said) do what he would with his own ; he might
forgive all or require all ; forgive part or require but part. Though full
satisfaction be not given, yet the laws of men use to give some damages, though never so little, unto the party wronged ; though not for satisfac
tion, yet for an acknowledgment of the injury. But God will have satis
faction to the full, or none at all. He stands upon it, and therefore it is
that the apostle saith, that the blood of bulls and goats cannot possibly take
away sin. If God had only required an acknowledgment of that satisfaction which a sinner was to make him, he might then have accepted of the blood
of bulls and goats to satisfy his justice. But on the contrary, in Kom. iii.
26, he declares himself to have set forth Christ as a propitiation, that he
might be just, and a justifier of him that believes in Jesus. And if he
speaks of justice in it, surely an imperfect satisfaction is not worthy to have
that name put upon it. In like manner the Scripture speaks of a price paid to redeem us, which argues it to be special justice; the word redemption itself (which is so frequently used) doth likewise argue it ; and it differs from buying but in this, that it implies a buying anew that which was one s
own^before, but yet by a price ; so that this justice of God came to set a price that it would have ; and if justice sets a price it will have a full one. We use to say, What I give I give, but what I sell I sell. When men indeed are frightened for lack of money, they will sell their goods at any under
rate ; but God was no way necessitated ; he could have improved his glory another way, and in the mean time have lost nothing by us. Therefore if God will sell, and his justice sets the price, he then will have his full
price ; he will make a wise bargain, and not see our ransom undervalued. That phrase in 1 Cor. vi. 20, Bought with a price, may seem to be a
* He speaks with his mouth ; for if they be bought, they must needs be bought with a price. But there is an emphasis in the phrase ; the word price is added to note that he hath bought them
tautology, and as if one should say,
indeed, and over-bought them, and that he hath paid for them, and that a
full price. Therefore, 1 Tim. ii. 6, it is called avriXvrgov, that is, a ransom
every way answerable and adequate. And besides these reasons intimated, add these :
(1.) All God s works are perfect in their kind, Deut. xxxii. 4. God
loves not to do things by halves ; if therefore he goes about to shew his
justice, he will do it perfectly or not at all.
(2.) If God should have required something that was not fully satisfac
tory, then the sinner relieved would have been apt to have thought and spoken of it as if it had been fully such, and would have been ready to have upbraided God therewith, as being not so much beholden unto him
74 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BOOK III.
for cutting off part of the payment due. We see how conceited proud nature is of its own performances ; and notwithstanding that God, to con vince it of its own inabilities, has set forth his Son as making so transcendent a satisfaction, yet it would needs esteem that little which it is required to
do, merely as an acknowledgment of thankfulness, to be in lieu of satisfac
tion, and accordingly it stands upon it ; and we have much ado to break ourselves of this conceit. How much more then would we have done this
if God had required no other ?
(3.) As to prevent the false conceits of our hearts, so also [for the full
quiet and security of our spirits, God did ordain that there should be a full
satisfaction made, that so we might have perfect peace in our spirits, as it
* Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee ; because he trusteth in thee ; and trust perfectly upon it, as 1 Peter i. 21. If it had been an imperfect satisfaction, the soul of man would still have been solicitous and doubting, it would still have been prying and questioning whether God would have accepted it or no, fearing it had not been full enough. Wherefore, as to take away our unthankfulness, so
is Isa. xxvi. 3,
to prevent our infidelity, it was to be a perfect satisfaction, even such as his
justice shall require no more at our hands.
Quest. But a question may here arise. How can God be said to pardon
freely by his grace, when yet his justice requires a full satisfaction ?
Am. The answer is, that both may well stand together. And therefore we have both joined together
: Kom. iii. 24, 25, Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ. And clearly to solve
this doubt, consider,
1. That it is of grace that this satisfaction is transmitted, and translated from us unto another ; which satisfaction, when it should come from another
for us, God was no way bound to accept of; and yet he doth accept it
freely. To illustrate which, there is this difference between satisfaction for damage in goods, and for injuries in point of honour (which is the thing wherein God accounts himself mainly wronged), that satisfaction for goods
(which we call restitution) may be performed for the debtor by another per son, and stand as good and valid as if himself had done it. But if it be to be made in point of honour, or that the punishment be to reach the life of the party wronging, then to commute or transmit it, it was a matter of free
grace and pardon.
2. It was free grace unto us, however, because we were wholly spared. All is freely remitted to us, although he
* spared not his own Son, as it is
said, Rom. viii. 32, and especially in that this was done to this end, that he might spare us. A type of this were those two goats in the old law, whereof the one was sacrificed, and the other let go free, and was called the
scape-goat. And although mercy would not have been so much shewn in
accepting what was a defective and imperfect satisfaction from ourselves, as
if mercy had wholly and alone supplied and made up all, yet it was shewn as much in accepting what another performed for us (though that satisfac-
tion^was never so perfect) as if it had wholly forgiven it.
3. If furthermore we consider, that it was his Son from whom this satis
faction was exacted, one so dear to him, and one who of himself was free from all such obligations, and put upon it by God, the more to shew hia
grace, this makes it to be mere grace ; and indeed the more grace, by how much the satisfaction was greater. And therefore God is said to commend
his love in this, that Christ died for us, Kom. v. 8. And Eph. i. 7, we
< by him to have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
are said
CHAP. II.] OF CHEIST THE MEDIATOR. 75
of sins, according to the riches of his grace. Had Christ been one nearer
to us than to him, or had he been wholly a stranger to God, it might then have been esteemed to have less of grace in it ; but in that he spared not
his own Son, that he might spare us, f. this makes grace the more to abound
in it, though the satisfaction be never so perfect.