Chapter X
The greatness and super-eminent worth of this satisfaction, as performed by such
a person. That hence the acts of his obedience exceed in goodness all the evil
that is in sin, and that therefore they make full reparation, since they honour God more than ever sin had dishonoured him.
Now having thus seen the excellencies of the person who was to satisfy, Christ God-man, which excellencies have an influence into the worth and merit of this satisfaction made, and having also viewed the ingredients into the matter of this satisfaction for the dishonour done unto God, I will now come to rear upon these as foundations, demonstrations of the super-eminency that must needs be in the materials of such a satisfaction performed by such a person ; which makes the third and last head propounded. And whereas there were presented many insuperable mountains of difficulty, that lay in the way of all the creatures to satisfy for sin, which they could never pass over or remove ; and such vast gulfs of disproportions between God s dishonour and debasement by sin, and all the creatures abilities to
repair and restore it, by reason of the distance between God himself and
them, such that nothing in or from them could ever make up or fill ; you shall now see all and every one of those mountains overtopped and levelled, and before this our mediator, Christ God-man, become a plain, all those chasms and chinks being filled up, and the way of satisfaction made so even and plain, that our faith may pass over it, and walk in it, assisted and sup ported even with reasons deduced from principles of justice and equity; and so all the principles of understanding in us may come to see and receive
full satisfaction in this satisfaction of his.
In making of this reddition, I shall not be able exactly to keep unto the same method I held in the beginning of this discourse, viz., to bring in the mention of every particular of this satisfaction, in the same order that J marshalled each of those particulars of the creatures nonsatisfaction, so as to set the one against the other in a parallel rank. For the disposing of such materials as do follow in the way of a natural consequence one from the other, must be suited unto the matter itself, not in an artificial, but
according to the natural dependence wherein one thing may appear to arise from another. Hence, therefore, when I was to shew the creatures inabi
lities, I so ranged and placed those things that should demonstrate, and in such an order, as might, by the consequence that one thing held upon another, best set forth the creatures insufficiencies, which therefore was most suitable to that subject. And accordingly, now that I am to speak of the abilities that are in Christ, I must present the fulness of them in each
118 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK III.
of those particulars so as will best suit with this subject, by setting forth one particular after another, as they arise from or depend each on other :
arguing in an orderly way from what is to be considered in him that makes
this satisfaction, to make it by degrees rise up to its height and fulness ;
yet so as there shall be no particular ground of difficulty that made it
impossible for the creatures to satisfy, that shall be left out unsatisfied in
these demonstrations of the fulness of Christ s satisfaction, although not in
the same method that in the former part was observed.
The first and lowest consideration, from whence I shall begin to argue this satisfaction of his, is that which was in the former head given, viz., that himself, or his person, is to be considered as the subject of all his graces
and obedience. And let us first see how much even this will contribute towards the satisfactoriness of his obedience, and equalise the evil and dis honour by sin, and how far it will carry this on.
You may remember how, in the first part of this discourse, viz., the demonstration of the creatures inability to satisfy, I shewed both how far
short the graces of a mere creature, never so pure and innocent, do fall, as not having any worth in them, more than to justify themselves, and that by God s appointment too ; and likewise how much sin exceeded in evil the
goodness and worth of all mere creatures graces, and that they did no way so much honour God as sin dishonoured him. Now let us from this first
consideration, that so infinite a person is the subject of grace and obedience, shew both,
1.. How much their graces are exceeded ; and, 2. Also the evil of sin thereby. 1. These his humbling graces (as I call them), for such only are matter
of satisfaction, and his actions of obedience springing therefrom, infinitely excel those of mere creatures, conceive them never so vast and large. That which makes grace more excellent than any other creature, and so is the
true measure of the greater or lesser worth in grace or holiness, is that it
is the participation of the divine nature. Now take but an estimate in your thoughts of the vast difference between the participation of the divine nature
in Christ, which makes his graces and obedience accepted, and that in mere
creatures. The participation of the divine nature in the grace of creatures,
is but by way of a mere shadow, likeness, or similitude, something resem
bling ; and so the worth thereof is but such as you would have of the picture of a king, that is somewhat like him. But the grace of union (as divines
call it, and that in way of distinction from Christ s own graces habitually considered, as well as from those in mere creatures) which derives worth
into Christ s graces and obedience, is a kind of communication of the God head itself personally united, and so diffusing answerable worth and accepta tion afore God into the actions of human nature thus united. The difference
herein is such, that whereas in mere creatures, standing afore God under a
covenant of works, and the covenant by mere right of creation is no other,
it is merely their graces and actions that make their persons accepted in such a covenant, and they have no worth from the person at all whose
graces they are, but the person from them. Now, contrarily, the graces and actions of Christ do not dignify the person so much, as the person them. So that look in a proportion how much his person exceeds all the creatures, BO much in their capacity, and measure, and in a moral value, must his
graces and actions of obedience excel all theirs. It is true, that for kind
his grace and ours are and would be the same, for of his fulness we receive
grace for grace, John i. 16. But look, as what a transcendent distance
CHAP. X.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 119
there is between the worth and excellency that is put upon the body and
the actions thereof in a man (by reason of that eternal soul that dwells in
it, and is substantially united to it), and the actions of a beast, so that one
and the same kind of earth is made capable of, and is to be a partner of
eternal life, and of heavenly glory, by reason of the soul in a man, whereas
that in a beast is ordained but to a life of sense. Look in like manner how
those actions are ennobled (comparatively to those of beasts), wherein the members of man s body are employed as weapons of righteousness, so that
they are actions of eternal consequence, and acceptation with God. Now
an infinitely greater transcendent distance is there between the worth which
the person of Christ doth communicate to the human nature, and the actions
thereof, or of his person therein (it being thereunto substantially united), and the worth which the person of mere creatures, though supposed to be
as full of habitual grace as Christ himself, can communicate to their actions.
Though for metal they had been the same that Christ s were, yet wanting
this royal stamp of the Deity upon them, they had not been coin that would
have passed for payment and satisfaction. His glory is substantial, and communicates its worth to the utmost to all and every action, so far as
the act is capable, even as the whole king s image is stamped upon three
pence as well as sixpence ; yet sixpence is of more value, because the
matter is capable of more ; and so one action of Christ was capable of more
worth than other, yet so as in them all there was an infinite moral dignity from the person. And again, as all the Godhead in all his fulness is said
to dwell in him and his person, so all the whole worth that the substantial
excellency of the person can translate is in like manner stamped upon all
his actions. And though the human nature, which in itself is finite, be the
principium quo, the instrument of all, by whom and in whom the second
person doth all he doth, and therefore answerably the physical being of
those actions is but finite, in genere entis, take them as created productions ;
yet all Christ s actions being attributed to the person who is principium quod
(for actiones sunt suppositorvm, actions are attributed to and said to be of
the persons that perform them, because that is said only to subsist), there
fore the moral estimation of them is infinite. And though the immediate
principle, the human nature, be finite, yet the radical principle, the person,
is infinite, and they being one in person, what the one is said to do, the
other is said to do also ; and therefore Christ s obedience is called the
righteousness of God, and the obedience of God.
2. Yea, secondly, his graces do for this respect so far exceed any that are
in creatures, that their goodness (as, Ps. xvi. 2, it is called) equals the utmost evil can be supposed in sin. For as the offence is against an infinite
glorious God, so the holy works are wrought by one as infinite. And as
the highest accent of the essence of sin lies over this head, that it was
against an infinite majesty, so the greatness of the satisfaction herein lies, that it was performed by the mighty God. Which proportion could never have been filled up by any creature who was not God ; satisfaction in point of honour depended upon the equal worth of the person honouring and
disgraced.
Yet it is not so to be understood, nor was it necessary, that the worth of
the actions should be as infinite as the person, essentially and substantially. For Christ s merits could not be infinite as God s attributes are, nor so loved by God as his attributes are, but that they are so in a moral estima
tion was enough. For look, as though sin was infinite, yet not so essen
tially, so justice required not an obedience essentially and naturally infinite,
120 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BOOK III.
but personally infinite, which Christ s is, it being the righteousness of him
that is God.
The second thing propounded to be proved was, that his graces and
actions of obedience did exceed in goodness the utmost evil that was in sin, which we saw no creature s graces did, or can be valued to do.
1. In the general, the evil of sin lies in this, that it is committed against the great God, and that God is the object of it : so as the utmost aggrava tion of the evil of sin is taken at the highest but from the worth of the
object, God and his glory, against whom it is committed ; but the worth of
all his graces and actions being taken from the person, the subject, the
efficient, from whom they do proceed, look how much more reason there
is that the person, who is the author and subject of his actions, should
convey more worth to his own actions than a person who is but an object of another s action can do to the action of that other, so much doth his graces, having a person that is God for the subject of them, exceed the evil of sin
that is against God, the mere object thereof. For the subject conveys worth to his own actions, as the father conveys nobleness to his child ; his
child inherits it from him, and so an action doth worth from the person from whom it is natively derived ; but that worth, and so that evil too, which it hath from the object is but extrinsecal and borrowed, and therefore
the denomination of actions is taken rather from the subject than the object. As when a man understands an angel never so perfectly as the object of his
understanding, it is called human knowledge, because man is the subject of it, and it is his knowledge ; though the object it is conversant about be an angel, it is not called angelical knowledge. So by the same reason
actions derive more proper worth and merit (for both worth and denomina
tion arise from the same root) from the person from whom they come, and
in whom they are, than from the person unto which they tend. And there
fore though sin be done against God as the object, and so is heinous, yet because this satisfaction was made by God as the subject of it, therefore it
is more meritorious than sin can be demeritorious. This satisfaction sucks more nobleness from the subject of it, which is the root it grows upon, than
sin can take evil and blackness from the external shadow the Father of
lights casts upon it by the sinner s eclipse of him. And the reason is, because all participation is founded upon union, mutual relation, and con
junction, and the more remote and further off the union and relation is, the less a thing participates from it. Now the relation and conjunction between the act and the object is but extrinsecal, it is an external conjunc tion that is between them, such as is between a man s eye and the sun,
they remain strangers still ; but the relation, conjunction, and kindred, that
is between a person and his actions, is nearer, it is intrinsecal, such as is between the sun and the beams that flow from it, which is yet nearer when
the person himself is included in the matter of the very action, as in this
of Christ it is, whose person is intrinsecally included as the necessary part of the satisfaction itself. Now if this, that God is but the object of sin, doth cast such a heinousness upon the acts of it which come frotn us, if such a remote far off extrinsecal relation and conjunction brings forth so much demerit, and makes sin to abound in sinfulness, what will the satis
faction which comes from so great a person as Christ, God-man, and
includes that person as a part of the satisfaction itself, how will this nearer union and relation between this person and his actions beget worth and
dignity in them ?
But then add to this further that other consideration mentioned, which
CHAP. X.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 121
will make a second head of this demonstration, that himself was not only the subject of his graces and actions of obedience, but that himself and his
personal worth were included and involved therein as the matter also of the
satisfaction (as I shewed at large) ; hereby it comes to pass that the evil of
sin is again afresh exceeded to a flowing over. For as the relation between
the act and the subject from whom, and in whom, is more near (as is said) than between the act and the object, so the subject matter, the materiale of
the action circa quam hath a nearer affinity than the subject in quo, for it
includes it, enwraps it into itself. And so did all Christ s obedience enwrap his glory in it and robbed him of it, and so he sacrificed it to God ; and
hereby God comes to have honour paid him double, over and over, not only honour returned him from a person as honourable and glorious as himself, which makes it infinite, and more than ever sin took from him, for honor
est in honorante, actions of honour take value from the person ; and as one
king may render honour to another when as yet he keeps his state, so might Christ have honoured God, manifesting himself in a glorified condition. But God hath not this single but a double subsidy and tribute of honour ; he will have Christ lay down his glory to glorify him, he will have the for
feiture, and not the principal debt only. And as Christ s obedience redupli cates upon his person, he humbled himself, so the honour due to God is
reduplicated also, so that as the apostle says, there is superfluity in his
satisfaction, 1 Tim. i. 14. For as if when he who was the Lord of so many worlds became poor for us, it must needs purchase infinite riches, as the
apostle speaks, so if he who was equal in glory to God will debase himself
at God s command, to glorify and give honour to him, and give up his own
glory to add as it were to his Father s, what honour must needs redound
to God thereby ? John xvii. 3, 4, Father (says he), give me the glory which I had ere the world was ; I have glorified thee on earth ; as if he had
said, I have laid aside the glory which I had afore the world was, all this
while, and which was all this while my due, have left heaven and come to
earth, and all to glorify thee on earth, Now glorify me, &c. Christ
reflects upon, and draws and includes all his glory to contribute and impute this double worth and satisfaction to his obedience.
And to make this demonstration the more full and satisfactory, let us more particularly consider what was that special damage and injury sin did unto God. It was (as I shewed) the obscuring of the glory of God, and reflecting dishonour to him. Now then let us but weigh together, as
it were, in two scales, that exceeding weight of the glory of Christ, who was
debased, with the glory of God the Father, which was obscured by sin, satisfaction being a reducing things to an equality, and a making of amends
in what is lost or endamaged ; and if it be in point of honour, it is requi site that as much and as great an honour be debased to make restitution, as was reflected upon or taken away. And here you may remember that
satisfaction in point of honour doth depend upon the worth and reputation, of the person that satisfies for it ; and what was the worth of Christ in his
personal dignity I have spoken to, what is meet for the point in hand. And from thence it is evident that such worth of the party honouring, equally balances all the dishonour which sin had thrown upon God.
But, 2dly, as was also shewed, this satisfaction of Christ is not simply a
giving honour to God, but a giving away his honour to make God s glory the more illustrious. Now, therefore, ^Christ made all his honour a sacri
fice to God (I shewed how.himself was the matter of the sacrifice), and therein indeed might especially be said to sacrifice^ himself, and to humble
122 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BOOK III.
himself, and it is the principal meaning of those expressions, for his glory is himself. As a king, consider him as a king, and his glory is himself, for his being a king is wholly matter of honour, and consists in nothing else ; and therefore we use the word
* 7//x Mtijrsty, for the king ; so God is
called the God of glory, Acts vii. 2 ; and the Father of glory, Eph. i. 17 ; and Christ, the Lord of glory, 1 Cor. ii. 8 ; and the Jews paraphrasti-
cally use to say, the glory of God, to express God himself ; and we also in ordinary speech, speaking of a man of worth doing anything dishonour
* he doth below himself, for his honour
able or unworthy of him, we say,
is himself; and to any spirit that is noble, it is a nearer thing than wives,
children, goods, or whatever. Now all this in men is but a spark of that
image in God and Christ ; and in Scripture phrase it is said of God, that
* he made all things for himself, that is, for his honour. And though the honour that ho hath by it is but a manifestative honour and extrinse-
cal, yet because himself is interested in it, and it is his, therefore it is
* My glory I will not
called himself, and he is as tender of it as of himself,
give to another, Isa. xlii. 8. Now, therefore, let us come to weighing, and put these two glories in the
scales, God s obscured by sin, and Christ s debased for sin.
A double glory God hath.
1. The one essential, the glory of the Godhead in itself.
2. A manifestated glory unto us. ^Aud the first is reflected upon by sin, the other detracted from.
And Jesus Christ, the second person, God-man, hath answerably a double glory, as was shewn, the one essential and equal to that of his Father ; the other due to be manifested in and upon his assumption of our
nature. Now look, whatever can be said of the proportion of dishonour done to either of these glories by sin as concerning God, the like may be
said of the debasement done to and performed by Christ, in respect of both
those his glories also.
And first compare we the reflection and shadow cast upon their essential
glory on either side, and at least the scales will be even. The essential
glory of God, although it cannot really be impaired by sin, yet it is reflected on by sin, and so that that glory which is impaired (as his manifestative
is), being a peculiar belonging to his person, and indeed is himself (as was
said), hence all the essential greatness that is in God is taken in to .aggra vate the guilt of sin, and hence there is a denomination given to our acts
of sinning, as if they were destroying and dishonouring the Godhead ; as Rom. i. 23, speaking of the sin of idolatry, They changed, says he,
* the
glory of the incorruptible God into the image of a corruptible man, and
creeping things. He speaks as if they had utterly destroyed the Godhead, and turned him into a creature ; thus a denomination is given to sin, as
reflecting on the eternal Godhead and essence of it.
Now, then, to answer this evil in sin, and make all even, it must be remembered what was afore said, that Christ that was debased was God, and his glory essentially equal to his Father ; and that though that his
essential glory was not impaired, yet all the debasement of his person in
the human nature reflected as much upon that, as that of sin doth any way upon God s. When he appeared in our flesh, I may say, he changed the
glory of the incorruptible God into the image, yea, the reality, of a crucified
man, a malefactor, the scum and dung of the earth, yea, a worm and no man. And as sin hath a denomination, as if it did thus and thus to the
essential Deity itself, so hath Christ s sufferings a denomination of reflect-
CHAP. X.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 123
ing on his Godhead in all its sufferings ; it is called the blood of God, Acts xx. 28, and God may be said to have died, and to have been crucified ; and so it is said,
* They killed the Prince of life, Acts iii. 15, and cruci
fied the Lord of glory, 1 Cor. ii. 8. Now then all that substantial glory of his comes in (as was said) as the foundation, to give worth to all he did
or suffered, as reflected upon hereby. For as no creature could have satis
fied, because they have no radical internal worth to fill up this dispropor
tion, theirs is but a borrowed and extrinsecal glory ; so if Christ had had no other, if indeed his glory had been but a borrowed glory, extrinsecal and
but by representation, and but as called God, as kings are in name, not
really and substantially (as the Arians and Socinians teach), then his being himself made
* of no reputation, when his glory lay but in reputation, would have had no satisfaction in it. God, who had a substantial glory reflected on by sin, would never have regarded or accounted of receiving any honour from the humbling of such a one. What is it to have a kingat-arms, or one that doth but personate a king, crouch unto a king ? What
glory is it to the sun to have the stars to pull in their glory, and be put
out, and not to shine, whenas all their glory is borrowed from itself ? The
creatures, although they may rob God of glory, and reflect dishonour upon God, and seem to eclipse him by sin, yet they can add no glory to him, as
the moon, which receives light from the sun, may interpose between it and
the earth, but she can noway add to the sun s brightness, or make it more
illustrious, no, not although she disappears in the presence of him, and looks
pale. And no more would all the debasements of the creature, though directed and intended to give glory unto God. But if there were another sun as glorious as this, and you should see it hide its brightness in this sun s presence, as if not worthy to shine together with it, that the sun
might alone appear ; or if you should see a king as great in majesty as ours come and leave his kingdom and royalty, and debase himself to honour our
king, what an honour adds this to the king, whenas it would not be so much for a subject to do this. (And this makes the pope s glory so extra
vagant and transcendent, that kings give their glory and power to him, and
kiss his feet.) Now so did Christ lower his glory to God s, when*he was
equal in substantial glory to him. All the glory of the creatures is but
accidental, put upon them as garments are, they shine alienis radiis, as
stars with another s beams. Thus in kings, all their glory is accidental
to their persons, therefore Christ says, the glory of the lilies exceeded
that of Solomon, Mat. vi. 29, because it was native and inbred in compa rison of his. But Christ s is glory substantial, residing in his person, as
light in the body of the sun. Accidental glory, such as in kings, doth not
give a worth to all their actions ; they sleep, eat, drink, &c., as other men, and these actions are no more royal in them than in other men ; they do
not all they do as kings ; but where substantial glory dwells, it transfuseth
a value into every thing that is done ; and therefore Christ s glory, being his essence (as he is God), it diffuseth a royalty on all his actions, and
so the least debasement of him to give glory to God, how infinite a
value must it put upon it ! He having (as I shewed out of the text) an
equal glory to his Father, and so his condescension makes at least the
scales even.
But then there are even in this respect some considerations that make
the reflection of dishonour on Christ s substantial glory, greater than that
by sin on God s, and so to outweigh it.
1. Because the creatures act is but a tendency, or at most an attempt to
124 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BOOK III.
eclipse this glory of God, and therein falls short in comparison ; for it is but
as if a mote should go about to eclipse the sun, when the sun shines round about it still. But these debasements of the Son of God, equal with God, are real, and they being arbitrary and done by himself, and from himself, are therefore greater and deeper than what the creature could any way
effect, for he himself, that is God, debaseth himself.
2. Yea, and secondly, there is a personal glory proper to the second per son as such, which was lessened and reflected on, besides his essential
glory, as I may so distinguish it. For there is an essential glory common
to all three persons, the glory of the Godhead, which is properly the object
of sin ; and few or no sins are peculiarly against that proper personal glory of any of the persons apart. When we sin, we sin no more against the
Father, than against the Son and Holy Ghost ; and even that sin against the Holy Ghost is rather against the effects of the Holy Ghost than against his person distinctly considered of by the sinner. Now then, in this de basement of Christ, there was not only a reflection on his Godhead, as it^is common to him with the other two persons, but that personal glory proper to him, as he was the second person, was in a further peculiar manner re
flected on ; and this in every debasement of his. Yea, that personal glory was in some respect lessened. For besides that his Father was greater than he in a true sense, upon the assuming of man s nature, he was also made
less than other men, and the terminus or subject of this lessening or dimi nution was truly the Son of God. For although it cannot be said that the Godhead suffered, yet of the second person it may now truly be said, he
suffered as well in, as that he was made, flesh. Now the personal glory of
the other persons is not debased or lessened by sin, because they do not
personally manifest themselves ; but the second person did personally manifest himself, and present himself to men ; and his person was made the sole butt, mark, subject, terminus of all the dishonour done
the Godhead in him. His person was singled out to bear it, and be the
sole receptacle thereof ; so as he being thus debased, this dishonour re
flected on his person and the glory thereof, besides what in common fell
upon his essential glory, his Godhead, and so he came to have a further and more special debasement than the Godhead had by sin.
But then, in the second place, let us make the comparison between the
obscuring the manifested glory of God detracted from by sin, and the dis honour done tojChrist s manifested glory, which is the second thing, and you will find his losses in that manifestative glory that was due to him to ex ceed God s losses in the dishonour done to his. For as was said, the
manifestative glory due to Christ at his appearing in the flesh personally, must needs be more than what the Godhead any other ways could have
ever manifested in effects, be they never so transcendent. As more honour
is due unto a king if he appears in person than if his arms only be set up, or proclamation be made in his name, or than unto his picture or coin, so
by the like reason unto God manifested in the flesh (as it is said of Christ, 1 Tim. iii. 16) a greater manifestation of glory is due than unto God, but
manifest in his works, as Kom. i. 19, 20 ; and so more was to have shone
in Christ, the express image of the invisible God (as Col. i. 15, and Heb.
i. 3), than in God s works, which are but the footsteps of the invisible things of God ; or in his law, which is but the shadow of his glory
: Heb. x. 1,
* For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offer year by
year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. Now that manifested
CHAP. XI.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 125
glory of God s (of which alone properly and really sin is the obscurer and
the detracter from) is but that which shineth in his law, which we sin
against, or as he is manifested to us in his works ; and this glory due to
shine in Christ s person manifested in the human nature must needs infi
nitely transcend the glory of all those, yea, and in his person doth now
shine more of the Godhead dwelling in him than in all his own works of
redemption wrought by himself, which yet exceed those of creation wrought by God. And therefore, that he should empty himself of all that glory due
to him the first hour he assumed our nature, he must needs lose more than
God did or ever can come to lose by sinners, and so the satisfaction in
that respect doth superabound. Yea, and this manifestative glory was as
truly his due as his Father s glory was due to him, or ought to have been
given the Father by us his creatures, either upon the manifestation of
his glory in his works or holy law, in which the Godhead shined ; for
because such a glory was his right, therefore all that great name or
dignity he hath above the angels he is said to have by inheritance, Heb. i. 4.
CHAPTEE XI.
That upon the whole it is evident that there is all in the satisfaction made by Christ which justice can require. An enumeration of the several pleas which may beframed against the sinner, and how they are all answered by what our Redeemer hath performed.
Now these general grounds of satisfaction for sin being laid, if justice will
foavouch or produce any of those particulars which were found in sin, so transcendently sinful
yet contend, or Satan, or the sinner s conscience, dare to
as exceeded all the creature s satisfaction, I make proclamation here in
open court, and do challenge heaven and earth, things visible and invisible, to bring in their bills and aggravations of a sinner s sinfulness ; and they shall see a just, and full, and particular discharge unto highest satisfaction. And for a trial we will go over all those particular damages in honour which
afore were mentioned, and require satisfaction for them, and you shall see
that what Christ hath done, will in all things punctually and particularly make amends for them.
First, If we reckon honour due to God left behind unpaid, which all the
creatures are never able to restore, because all they can do is due for them
selves, and therefore they cannot afford an overplus of glory to repay what
is lost, yet Christ is able to make amends. For he who was thus glorious to the highest degree (and it was his due by inheritance), he laid aside his
* made himself of no reputation, so the text says, yea, emptied him
honour,
self of all, became vain, left himself disrobed and despoiled of all : I am a worm and no man, says the psalmist, Ps. xxii. 6, of him ; he made him
self nothing, became nothing, not in being or substance, but in account and
reputation. It is said of Herod and his men, they did set him at nought, made nobody of him ; and when we saw him we esteemed him not, says the prophet, speaking concerning the Jews usage of him, Is. liii. 3. Yea, they called it blasphemy in him when he but meekly challenged his own, and told them for their good he was the Son of God. If God should reckon what manifestation of glory all those that have, or shall sin against him, had been able, or ought to have brought in to him, and which through their
126 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BOOK III.
negligence and omission is now for ever lost, it will be found to hold no
proportion unto what was to have been manifested in Christ God-man the
first hour of his assumption. For when he had assumed our nature per
sonally, there must needs be a greater brightness (as the author to the Hebrews styles it, Heb. i. 3), a more glorious gleam or issuing forth of
splendour was to accompany and shine forth in that nature so united, than could possibly result to God out of all other ways of revealing himself what
ever. Because they all are of a lower kind, and inferior unto this. This is a manifestation of the Godhead altioris ordinis, of a superior kind and order
to all other. If himself personally appears, his glory must also appear as the glory of the only begotten Son of God. But he suffered all this utterly to be veiled and clouded, though sometime, perchance, as it were, a beam broke forth through a cranny, that, as John says, we saw his glory, as the only begotton Son of God, John i. 14. Which yet was rather to make them believe what he was, than any way to glorify himself ; but otherwise, he stole into the world as a prince disguised, and lived as an exile, debarred and kept from wearing the crown of glory, which should have been set upon his head the first hour. He stood out of his glory for three and thirty
years, which was due to him as soon as he was conceived, therefore it comes in, Jesus was not yet glorified, John vii. 39. What ! not }
Tet ; not after thirty-three years dwelling in flesh and debasement ? Why, to
stay for his crown one hour, in that one hour he should lose more than ever God could lose, in all that the creatures could afford him, in all those
ways he had manifested himself to them by, unto eternity, or in any other way than by the assumption of a creature he could ever shew. And yet, I
say, this glory was his due the first minute ; for when he came into the
* Let all the angels of God
world, when he first landed, it is proclaimed,
worship him, Heb. i. 6, and even as much was due then as he now wears
in heaven, or as he put forth on the holy mount. He hath not increased his personal glory by his own merits ; nil meruit sibi ; in that respect he deserved as great and high a name for personal glory as he hath now in
heaven, for the great name he hath by inheritance, Heb. i. 4. I say, per sonal glory as much was his due the first day ; for I confess there is a glory shines out of his works of mediation, and a glory of his offices, which is
additional to his personal glory due unto his person. If a mere creature, that had done never so much service to God, had been content to have stood out of that glory, which, as a reward, God had promised unto him, this would not have satisfied for God s loss of honour by sin, as this of Christ doth ; for, besides that the loss of the creature had not been equal to what God lost, as his was (as hath been shewn), even more than God could other wise expect in his manifestation in his works ; the glory due to that creature
as a reward of its service being but by promise, out of favour, could never have come up to satisfaction. But the glory due to Christ was by inheri tance descended to him, when once united to God, by natural right, so as
though he was man, yet that man being one in person with the Son of God,
is not to be*reckoned the adopted Son of God, but the natural Son of God ; and so his glory was answerable, not borrowed, but natural to him and by
right ; not as one who holds it by promise only, but as inheriting it. We saw his glory, as of the only begotten Son of God, John i. 14 ; a glory that was proper to him, such as he who was the Son of God must neces
sarily have, and that by inheritance, as his right. Thus much for the first
part of the bill honour lost to God.
Well, but justice will plead yet further damage, not only of honour omitted
CHAP. XI.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 127
and neglected to be given, but of honour robbed, stolen from God and given away to creatures, and so debased ; Changing the glory of the incorrupt
ible God, into an image made like to corruptible man and fowls, &c., Rom.
i. 23. Now, behold, Christ did that which well may make amends, for he
not only emptied himself, and stood out of honour, but humbled himself to
the death of the cross ; which, besides the pain, had also the highest shame
accompanying it, put upon his person in it ; therefore we find both joined, Heb. xii. 2 He endured the cross, and despised the shame. And now,
bring in all the objections and aggravations of dishonour done to God, and
see them all equalled and exceeded in his debasement.
First, Doth the evil of sin lie in a dishonour done by such base creatures
as we are, to a God so glorious ? And is it indeed the infinite disproportion between him and us makes the guilt thereof so heinous ? Why, if this per
son, so great as Christ was, and whose essential glory is equal with his
Father, if he will subject himself to the lowest debasement that is possible, so as between that his glory, the glory of his person, and this his debase
ment, shall be as great a distance every way found as between the creatures and the glory they are able to give to God, or God to receive from them ;
this must needs answer to, and fill up the disproportion. But there was a
greater distance ; for he that is equal with God, takes upon him the form
of a servant, and will subject himself to God; and if that be not low enough,
he subjects himself to the basest of creatures, yea, and will fall lower yet, to the basest condition of creatures, yea, as low as hell itself, and for sub
stance endure the same anguish which the damned there do ; and shall not
this make amends ? If sin hath offended God s glory as far he can be
offended, quantum offendibilis est, he subjects himself quantum subjicibilis est, as far as he can be subject. If sin exalts a creature above God, in lieu of
it God will debase himself below all creatures, and of all conditions take
the basest ; will not this his falling so low rise up in all apprehension to
highest satisfaction ?
Again, Secondly, If you say God s prerogative and sovereignty is affronted
by every sin ; Christ, though he can stand upon his prerogative as much as
God, being equal w
rith him, yet he lets it fall, lays it down, yea, stands and holds up his hand at a bar as a malefactor. Yea, it is that very prerogative of his, and his being a king, that was the greatest exception which they had
t glory is turned into his shame; he is con demned to death for an usurper and an impostor, for saying he was the
against him, gloria Jit crimen, his
Messiah, and king of the Jews. It was written as the title on his cross, of what he suffered for ; and though he tells them that he was a king, and above a king, which was that good confession which Paul puts Timothy in mind of, which he made afore Pilate, yet Pilate thinks himself a better man than he :
* Have I not power to condemn thee ? And will not Christ, thus
divesting himself of all his royalty, in like manner make amends ?
Thirdly, Is not only God s prerogative, which he backs his law with, contemned, but all his glorious perfections slighted and denied, as his
wisdom, holiness, &c. ? So were all the excellencies in Christ debased.
1. His person was debased ; He said he was the Son of God ; let God save him if he will have him, say they of him when he hung on the cross. Mat. xxvii. 43.
2. All his offices are blasphemed.
< Prophesy to us, say they in a jeer when they buffeted him, Mat. xxvi. G8, and tell us who it was that smote thee. He will one
(1.) Prophetical ;
day tell him that did it, at the day of judgment
128 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BOOK III.
* If he be the king of Israel,
(2.) Also, his kingly office ; Mat. xxvii. 42,
let him come down, said they, mocking him. Andf
* He saved others, himself he cannot
(3.) his priestly office also ;
save, say they in despite, Mat. xxvii 42. They say this when he was doing that very thing they mocked him for, namely, saving others ; it was his
business he hung upon the cross to finish.
As thus his person and offices, so all his attributes suffered contempt. Though he was the Wisdom of his Father, and discovered more than ap
pears in all the works of creation and the law, yet how is he slighted as unlearned ! He knows not letters (say they, John vii. 15). And who are
his followers ? None but the people that know not the law, John vii. 49. And how is Moses preferred before him ! John ix. 29, As for this fellow, we know not whence he is. So how do they scoff at his omniscience, Tell us who it is that smote thee, Mat. xxvi. 68. As if when they had blinded
him, and covered his eyes, they thought they had hoodwinked his all-seeing eye also. He that is truth itself is counted a deceiver of the people ; yea, he that is holiness itself is reckoned amongst transgressors, Isa. liii. 12,
yea, the greatest of sinners ; and this not by men only, but by God him
self, by whom he was made sin that knew no sin, 2 Cor. v. 21, so that by imputation he was the greatest sinner that ever yet the world had, as Luther used to speak. He was made, as it were, a sink into which the guilt of all
sin was drained : The iniquities of us all did meet in him, Isa. liii. 6. His body on the tree was made the centre of all sins, as so many lines
coming in upon him from the circumference of all ages. Yea, and he was not only to be accounted a sinner by others, but he was himself to do such
actions whereby he ipso facto acknowledged himself such, as to fulfil the
ceremonial law, to be circumcised, &c., which was our bond, whereby we
acknowledged ourselves debtors to the law ; and he set his hand to it, as
acknowledging the debt. And now methinks he that was holiness itself
should least of all have brooked this dishonour. What ? Made sin ! Why ?
It is that which he only hates, which his pure eyes abhor to look upon, and
yet he must quietly bear the name of it, and take upon him the guilt of it, as if it were his own ; a greater indignity than for the chastest woman to be called a whore. I will say no more but this ; he that was the great God was called devil, and content to put it up.
Lastly, The being and life of God makes sin most odious, as being that which sin, in the nature of the act, tends to take away from God : for (as was said) as he that hateth his brother is a murderer, 1 John iii. 15, so he
that hateth God is a murderer of him (though it doth him no hurt) in the
attempt or rather tendency of the act, though not in the attempt or inten
tion of the sinner ; and therefore the life of all mere jcreatures will never make amends, no more than the life of a traitor ever can for murdering his prince ; only it is all the satisfaction that can be had. And so in hell God takes their lives for it, because it is all that can be gotten. But now come we to Christ ; he of whom it is said that he
* hath life in himself/ John v. 26, and is the
* living God, is content really to be murdered and
put to death. Murderers (says Peter to the Jews, Acts iii. 15), ye have
killed the Prince of life ; and Paul says, They crucified the Lord of glory. And though it was but in the flesh that he was crucified, as Peter elsewhere
distinguished, yet the life he laid down was the life of his person ; and as
it is called the blood of God which was shed, so this was the life of God which was taken away ; therefore, John x. 17, 18, Christ there calls it his
1 1 bave p0wer to lay down my life, and take it up again. None could
life j
CHAP. XI. J OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 129
say so much but he who was God, but he who is the Lord of life ; and it is more plainly expressed, 1 John iii. 16, Hereby we perceive the love of
God, because he laid down his life for us. It was the life of God, and that
in so true and real a sense, as therein the utmost of his love appeared. Yea,
further, he not only died, but death held him a while under it, as a con
queror of him, therefore, Rom. vi. 9, death is said to have once had domi
nion over him. Now this true and real laying down of his life must needs
be more satisfactory unto God than the attempt, or rather tendency, that is
in the act of sin to take God s life away can be reputed heinous.
You may remember, when we did set forth (in that first part of this dis
course) sin s sinfulness, and the evil of it against God, wherein it was that
it exceeded all the goodness of the creature (which yet was for God, as well
as sin is said to be against God), we pitched it upon this, the undueness of
the act of dishonour done to God by the creatures ; whereas all the honour
their graces bring in to him, is due from them towards him. Now there
fore let us see if, even in this particular, the evil of sin be not exceeded by Christ s satisfaction also, that nothing may be omitted that may satisfy a
sinner s reason about the all-sufficiency of this satisfaction. This undue-
ness of the act of dishonour was the highest and utmost aggravation of man s sinfulness, and did cast the balance, and was found to weigh heavier than all the creatures goodness. Now let us put Christ s debasement of himself into the balance with it, and we shall see it far over-balanced even
by this, that all this debasement of his to glorify God was infinitely more undue ; which naturally riseth thus to all men s apprehensions. 1. In that it was such a way of giving honour to God by him, as God himself could no way challenge as his due from the second person towards him ; for he was equal with him. He did owe indeed (as all the persons do one to another, a mutual honour) an honour unto God, even as kings mutually honour one another ; yet still but as equals use to do. And if as man, being made inferior to God, he owed subjection, yet still not in this way of debasing himself. He honoured his Father, and his Father the Son, from all eternity ; for as they love one another, so they give honour one to
another. But that God should have honour this way, by having his Son, a person his equal, become inferior to him, and obedient, and that so far as
to death, and to profess that he did it freely at his command, this was in
itself more than could be challenged, as due from him, by God, and there
fore must needs be a full amends for any dishonour thrown on him by sin.
It is as if the king of Spain should come out of his own kingdom, and ad mit himself into this of ours, and subject himself to our king and his .laws,
thereby to make our king seem greater ; what an honour were it to him ! More than all his subjects can do to him all sorts of ways in which they can be subject.
And 2. As Christ s debasement was thus undue, in respect that God could not exact it from him but by his own voluntary compact, so most of
all undue it was, if we consider that which so often hath been inculcated,
viz., the glory that himself could challenge as his due, and that by right of inheritance ; and how great that was, and how due it was, hath been de clared ; and for him to be so debased, how infinitely undue was it in this
respect also ! Of sin s undueness it may be said, Hear, heavens ; and
hearken, earth ; that men should sin and rebel against the great God, so undue an act it is, and unworthy of the creature. But when we think or speak of this debasement of the Son of God, equal with God, to whom so much glory is due, stand astonished at it, all you angels and men ; VOL. v. i
130 OF CHEIST THE MEDIATOR. [BOOK III.
and with mere amazement fall and shrink into your first nothing, to think that ever it should be said, and be a truth, that the great God, the Lord of
glory, should be crucified, the Lord of life killed. I appeal to you all, if
this be not an act infinitely more unworthy, and as much out of course, more horrid to the thoughts of men and angels, than sin can be supposed to be. That a base creature should sin against God, it is a thing to be wondered at indeed as a strange indignity ; but yet the creatures, if they know themselves, may well know, yea, and fear, that they being but crea
tures, they may do it too soon, as the best of them did ; and it was a won der rather that any stood. But that the Lord of glory should be thus debased and killed, no creature durst have thought it, if they had conceived
it possible ; but it is so abhorrent as it could never have entered into their
thoughts, had not God done it ; and it is marvellous in our eyes. And lastly, That sin may have nothing left to boast of, and that we may omit nothing that mayor hath been any way pleaded about sin s sinfulness, but see it out-pleaded, and cast, and exceeded by this satisfaction of Christ s, let us put into the balance likewise those evil effects mentioned also in that
first part of this discourse, whereby the heinousness of sin was demonstrated
to transcend the goodness of the creatures graces in any effects of their
: you shall find the effects of Christ s righteousness to abound far above them.
goodness
For, first, his actions, by reason of the dignity of his person, do please God more than sin can displease him. For if our works, although full of
sin, are yet, by reason of our union with Christ as our head, made so ac
ceptable as to please God more than the sin in them doth displease him, how must his own works be accepted, wrought in himself, in our nature
hypostatically united to him !
Secondly, And therefore if sin hath that inseparable evil (as was said) in the nature of it, that where it is found it condemns all, though the crea ture had been in former times never so righteous, nor never so long such, so hath Christ s righteousness that inseparable royalty to save and justify, though sins be never so great and many. So Rom. v. 17, he compares both the one and the other : If condemnation came by one man s dis
obedience, how much more shall, by an abundance of his righteousness,
justification be unto life ? So as if he will impute this righteousness, and account it to the ugliest sinner in the world, then by virtue of the imputa tion he cannot but justify him, and pronounce him as worthy of eternal
life as the greatest and the holiest angel in heaven. For this righteousness claims it by the merit of it, when once the sinner can call it his. And
although one sin spoils and makes void all the good in any creature, though
it hath been of never so long continuance, yet his righteousness, on the
contrary, is sin-proof for time to come, and hath the worth of his person, who is the great God, to give power to it to prevail against all sins past,
present, and to come ; it. is an everlasting righteousness, Dan. ix. 24, such as which sinners can never spend or evacuate. And if sin take away the justifying power from grace, his righteousness takes away the con
demning power from sin : There is no condemnation to them that are in
Christ; for it condemneth sin itself. Rom. viii. 1, 3, There is there
fore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Ver. 3, 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.
CHAP. XII.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 131