Chapter VI
That Christ hath made full reparation of all which ivas lost by sin. The glory
of the law, which sin had darkened, is by him perfectly recovered. And Gods image, which sin had defaced in man, is tnore fully restored in him,,
We have seen the power of all the creatures set up, and at a loss as to
this, the greatest and most difficult business that ever was set on foot, viz., the taking away of sins. Let us now come to lay open that fulness that is
in Christ for this work ; before which all these difficulties that have been
put, and all our sins likewise, will vanish and melt away, as clouds before
the sun. A fulness it is that answers to every defect, and to every parti cular objection made. I will begin with that satisfaction that is to be given to God ; for in the wrong to him doth the principal knot and difficulty lie.
First, If God should stand upon satisfaction to be made, in point of goods
(which yet, as I said, he doth not), Christ hath therein abundantly made amends. Which although he reckons not as any part of his satisfaction, which only consists in his obedient humbling of himself, yet it may be con
sidered as part of the surplusage and redundancy of it. Let justice come and bring in her bill of damages, and see if Christ hath not abundantly
given satisfaction for them : as,
1. Will the complaint be of the loss, spoil, and waste made of the world, and of all the creatures therein, and of the unjointing that frame, unto the
danger of the destruction of it, which no creature is able to repair or to
uphold ? Then let it withal be remembered that he that had undertook to
* without him it had not been made, John i. 3. It is a consideration that both that evan
satisfy God had his hand in making this old world, and
gelist, and the author to the Hebrews (Heb. i. 2), as likewise the apostle to the Colossians (Col. i. 16), do all suggest to this very purpose, thereby to shew., Christ s ability to satisfy for sin. And if God would yet further
desire new worlds to be made him for satisfaction, Christ could make enough. And it may be further pleaded, that this world (as we see) stands and con
tinues still, notwithstanding all the sins committed in it, and that justice had destined it to present ruin the first day that man should sin. Now whose power is it that upholds it ? Is it not Christ s, whose very word is
able to underprop it ? So Heb. i. 3, Upholding all things by the word of
his power ; who with one hand holdeth his Father s hands from destroying this world, and with the other upholds it from tottering. Yea, if it were no more but this, that he who made the world would vouchsafe to admit
himself into it, and become a part of it ; and that he whom God did never make nor create, but from eternity begat, would be made flesh, and be come a creature and servant (which was an addition to God s goods, and worth all that he had made besides), this might make reparation for all such damages. And again, at whose expenses are all things here main
tained ? Are they not at Christ s ? The Father did as it were deny to lay out any more power or patience in upholding the world, till he should be
paid for it ; and did not Christ undertake this, and at his due time lay down a price that fully bought it ? who is therefore called the Lord that
bought, 2 Pet. ii. 1, as wicked men, so all the world. And that he who made the world, and is joint-heir with God, and hath as much right to it as
he, should, to satisfy him, lay down his right, put himself out of all, and then take it up upon a new title, when it was his before, so buying what
102 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BOOK III.
himself made, and what was his own : that he should become poor, even not worth the ground he went on when he came into the world, and should
suffer himself not to be owned (as John speaks), yea, to be cast out of the
vineyard, as one that had nothing to do with it ; will not all this make
amends, will not this poverty rise to great riches ? The apostle Paul tells us so. Wherefore this may well make satisfaction to God for goods lost.
2dly, If justice complain of the law defaced, and as it were abolished by sin ; if she plead that through it the righteous law is made void, and of none effect, and so bring it in, in this inventory of wasted goods, considered
only as it is a copy of God s will, an expression of his holiness, an effect of
his wisdom, and monument of the same, the least iota of which is so pre
cious, as not all in heaven and earth can make amends for its loss : should
justice make this complaint, then let the reply be, that our Redeemer s head
was in the making of that law ; and that the hand of him who was the
Mighty Counsellor, did guide the pen that wrote it in Adam s heart at
first ; and further, that himself is the substantial image of God, and the
irgurorvwov of the law. And besides, when it was lost, and no copy on earth
to be found, he it was that wrote it in the consciences of men fallen. In which sense the apostle John says, that it is he who enlightens every man
that comes into the world, John i. 9. And because that was but an im
perfect copy, it was he that further delivered the law, of which David says
: Ps. xix. 7, The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the
it was perfect
soul : the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple ; and renewed it on Mount Sinai, Gal. iii. 19. And in the fulness of time him
self came, and vindicated it from all corrupt glosses in his preaching, ful
filled it in his life, and in fulfilling it, writ it out again with his own hands, and so set a more perfect copy than ever was extant in the hearts and lives
of angels. I came not to destroy the law, says he, but to fulfil it.
Yea, and if all the copies of the law that are in the world were burnt, they might be all renewed in his story, insomuch that he is reckoned a new founder of it.
( A new commandment (says the apostle, 1 John ii. 8),
1 write I unto you, and so the apostle Paul speaks of fulfilling the law of
Christ, Gal. vi. 2. Bear ye one another s burdens, and so fulfil the law
of Christ. Yea, and suppose, that that covenant (which is the first story and copy of God s will and wisdom) had been utterly lost (like as some of Solomon s books were), yet he by his works of mediation makes a new
story of another wisdom infinitely more glorious, viz., the gospel, whereof he is the sole founder, and of whom it is written as being the subject of it, the least line of which is worth all the law, so that the angels stand amazed
at the treasures of wisdom that are to be found therein, being deeper than ever were revealed in the law. The law, that came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, John i. 17 a new volume of truths, which had not been true, if he by his blood had not made them so.
8dly, Though God s image be lost by sin, yet he is such an image of
him, as the very sight and beholding of him renews it, and changeth men
* But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from
into the same image
: 2 Cor. iii. 18,
glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Yea, the image which he renews is a better image than that of Adam s, it is of a higher strain and
key, and raised, by higher motives.
4thly, As for loss of service, to repair it, He took on him the form of a
servant, Phil. ii. 7. And such a servant he was, as was not to have been
hired amongst all the creatures. They all could not do the work that he
CHAP. VII.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 103
did ; The government of the whole world is upon his shoulders, Isa. ix. 6. He easeth his Father of it for the present, and when he hath brought him
in infinite revenues of glory, he will at last deliver up the kingdom to him,
1 Cor. xv. 24, with a greater surplusage than else would have been had out
of that begun course of providence taken up at the creation. And if you will not reckon that as part of satisfaction, yet consider the service he did
in the priest s office, wherein God acknowledged him his servant. He des
patched more work in those thirty-three years wherein he lived, yea, in
those three hours wherein he suffered, than ever was or will be done by all
creatures to eternity. It was a good six-days work when the world was made ; and he had a principal hand in that, neither hath he been idle since ; 1 and my Father work hitherto, says Christ, John v. 17. But that three hours work upon the cross, "was more than all the other. Eternity will not have more done in it, than virtually was done in those three hours ; so as
that small space of time was rb vw (sternitatis. As they say of eternity, that
it is all time contracted into an instant, so was all time, past, and to come, into those few hours, and the merit of them. For he then made work for
the Spirit, and indeed for all the three persons, unto eternity. He then did
that which the Spirit is writing out in grace and glory for ever, yea, and
all that ever was or will be done towards the saints, was then perfected
: He perfected for ever them that are sanctified, by that one offering
: Heb.
x. 12, 14, But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever,
sat down on the right hand of God ; ver. 14, For by one offering he hath
perfected for ever them that are sanctified.