Chapter XII
That all the pleas which the law can make against a sinner are by this satis
faction of Christ also fully answered.
And now we have shewn such abundant satisfaction given to God in
point of his honour, the law methinks may well sit down and never so much as mention the debt that is its due. Yet if the law will needs bring in her bill also, there will be found satisfaction full enough for its claim
also.
And first, in general, what is the law ? The will, word, and command
of the great God. Well, but Christ is the Word of his Father in a higher and more glorious sense ; the original of this word and law. This is but the copy of what is substantial in him ; he is therefore called 6 Xoyog,
* the Word, John i. 1. Yea, and is not Christ the maker and the giver of that law ? Gal. iii. 19. And if he that made the law will be
* made under the
law, as, Gal. iv. 4, he was, and enter into bond to the law, and give the law power over him, as a servant and an apprentice to it, make himself a debtor to it and fulfil it, will not this make amends ? We might make very short work with the law s suit but by calling for her bond, which once she had to shew against those Christ died for. Therefore let the law shew and
bring in that bond into open court. She returns answer, that she hath it not ; we find then that it is taken out of the way, Col. ii. 14. But how, and by whom ? Not surreptitiously, and by stealth, or by force and vio
lence, but openly in the face of the court of justice. And by whom ? Christ blotting it out, nailing it to his cross, and triumphing openly, says the 15th verse, and before the judge s face. The moral law, that was the
creditor, and the bond which God appointed the Jews to give in, whereby to acknowledge the debt, was the ceremonial law; therefore says the apostle,
he that is circumcised (upon which the bond was entered into, and
sealed) is a debtor to the whole law. Now, in token that the debt is
paid, we find the bond cancelled ; and now she hath nothing to shew against believers so as to condemn us, and this is evidence sufficient. But yet if the law, or any legal conscience, would notwithstanding have further satis
faction, and put us to prove and shew how the particular debts due there unto were paid and discharged, both that of service to be done, and fulfil
ling all the law, by active obedience, and then by passive obedience also, and know how the punishment and curse threatened was undergone, the
particular discharge is yet upon record. Christ hath done both fully ; and what he hath done and suffered hath that in it which the obedience and
sufferings of no pure creature could have had, nor could have satisfied as his hath done. It is a point I shall speak of after, when I shall shew the fulness of parts that is in his obedience ; yet I shall say a little now, and enough to stop the law s mouth, for this is but a ruder draught of what more particularly we will fill up.
First, He fulfilled the law in service and obedience performed unto it for the space of thirty-three years
: John viii. 29, I do always the things that
* he was a servant, and obedient usque ad mortem, until death, Philip, ii. 8, and therefore all his life. He there men tions that obedience in lieu of service due by us ; and although creatures could fulfil the law, yet they could not perform it for us, and for themselves
please him. The text too says,
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too, because the law requires all they can do for themselves, and what they do is not their own ; but what Christ doeth shall stand for both. To go no further now than the text for clearing this ;
First, Though as Christ was man, the law required obedience of him for
himself, when once he is become a man, and had once assumed our nature,
yet being before his assumption equal with God (which the text on purpose mentions to shew the worth of his obedience), and at his choice to have continued free for ever from all subjection ; that he should take upon him
* he became obedient
voluntarily this condition of a servant (as the phrase
importeth, and he was servus foetus, non natus, so Gal. iv. 4, made under the law ). This act of such a person, and thus free, doth make all the obedience he upon this performed, to stand both for himself and for others
also ; for the righteousness the manhood performed, his person had no need
of. And then again the assumption of this nature was agreed on by cove
nant, and this by a more ancient law and decree made in heaven ere there were any creatures extant to give the moral law unto ; whereby it was
agreed that the service he did in that nature should justify others ; so Isa.
liii., My servant shall justify many; though a servant, yet his service was not for himself, but others. And again, though as a man he is sub
ject, yet that man is personally united to the Godhead, and so partakes of
all his royalties, whereof one is to be Lord of the law, Mat. xii. 18 ; * and
therefore his fulfilling the law is truly the obedience of God, the Lord
thereof, as well as his blood is the blood of God. The creatures have no
relation or privilege whereby they can plead exemption from the law, but so can he ; but all that the creatures have is necessarily and wholly sub
ject, and therefore all which they can do is only for themselves. But his
person is equal with God, and in that relation (which over-balanceth all
other) is free and subject, not necessarily, but voluntarily, and that by a covenant made on purpose, the condition whereof was to assume the nature and the form of a servant in it, merely to justify others ; and therefore will stand good for us against the law. Jehovah, that hath no need of acquisite righteousness, is our righteousness, Jer. xxiii. 6. And,
Secondly, Though creatures could not by their active obedience satisfy for another, because what they did was not their own, nay, it was but bor
rowed, yet he could say his soul was his own (as we use to speak) and that
his -life was his own, which no creature could say ; they cannot say their
service is their own, and grace their own. And this propriety in what he
had, did, or suffered, the Scripture often puts an emphasis upon, as that which conduceth to satisfaction, as when it is said he washed us with his own blood, Eev. i. 5. And I will lay down my life, and take it up again ; and, John xvi. 14, he shall receive of mine. And though, as some of the schoolmen object, Christ s human nature and all his actions were sub dominio Dei, under the dominion of God, as creatures, and God had an interest in them, yet this human nature, and all that it could per form, was in another relation so peculiarly the second person s own, as it was not the other persons , namely, his own by personal union, which pro
priety was incommunicable to the other persons. Habitual grace, though
; human nature when united as its -own ; and as the human nature was to be called not the adopted Son of God, but the natural, so the grace in that human, nature might be called, now it is united to the Godhead, co-natural to him. And though the first grace of union was mere grace, yet that grace was * Probably a misprint for Mark ii. 28. ED.
it was the work of the Holy Ghost, Luke i. 35, yet due unto the
CHAP. XII. J OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 133
vouchsafed to the human nature, not the divine, subsisting in the second
person, who as such is the person who owneth all both graces and actions
in the human, and is the proprietor of them ; and he it was who was lessened by that assumption. Yea, and besides, when once that human nature is assumed, then all the dues and rights of that person, as to be full of grace, and Lord of glory, &c., was due and proper to him as the only begotten Son of God : John i. 14, And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth. And grace was not given to him as a mere servant to give account of, but he entered upon it as a Lord ; for if he be the Lord of glory, as 1 Cor. ii. 8, then the Lord of grace too ; and he is not as Moses, as a servant, but as a Son in his own house, Heb. iii.
5, 6 ; and so there are these great and just respects upon his obedience, that it was free, and his person not subject to that law which he ful
filled.
And whereas the creatures must have gone over their works again and
again to eternity, done nothing but written the blurred copy of their obe
dience, copy after copy, in their lives, and so have made nothing perfect, there is in Christ a fulfilling of it but once by him, which will serve for that eternal debt of active obedience. And as by once offering of himself, Heb.
x. 14, so by one righteousness and obedience, Rom. v. 18 ; that is, once
gone over, he is able to justify us for ever. And therefore he tells his
apostles, a little afore his death, that he had now but one thing to do, and that was to drink of the last cup ; and how do I long, says he, till it be
! And at his death he tells his Father, John xvii. 4, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And so he having des
accomplished
patched the active part, he had space enough left to undergo the passive, which, as I shewed in the first part of this discourse, no creature was cap able of. Nay, further, he can do both at once : in obeying, suffer ; and in
suffering, obey ; and each successively, so as God shall be no loser by the one or the other, and in the end can say of both,
* It is finished. Thus much for the debt of active obedience.
Secondly, Now, if we come to passive obedience, we shall find that he was able so to undergo it, as shall put that worth into it, as it shall soon be finished, and be yet satisfactory.
First, Whereas no creature could have so much as borne the imputation of sin (which yet was necessary to satisfaction), for it would have withered and shrivelled up all their grace, because their grace is all but washy stuff, and but as a gilding by gold slightly overlaid ; now Christ s grace is sub
stantial, it was as gold itself, therefore it was sin-proof. He can be made
sin, and yet his grace continue, as ours doth not, when Adam s sin is
imputed. Grace maintains itself in him, not by a covenant of works, but by the personal union and the rights thereof, and so can bear the guilt of
all our sins, and his grace never a whit the worse for it ; his person is
unpeccable, and so uncapable of hurt by the imputation of sin.
Secondly, The life and comforts thereof, which he lays down, and sacri-
ficeth, is his own. His life is not due to God, as is the creatures , for it is
given him to have life in himself, John v. 26. And I have power over my life to take it up and lay it down, says he. God, that hath power over
* Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. Ver. 18, No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command-
life and death, hath not power over his : John x. 17, 18,
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ment have I received of my Father. So as whatever he loseth in suffering for us shall be his own, he will not borrow anything to suffer with, but all he offers is his own, as it must be, if it be a mediating death. He was able
to offer up himself, and so be his own sacrifice, altar, and priest ; he bor rowed nothing ; and this all at once ; and this no creature could do.
1. He being God, was able to be his own priest, and in dying offered up himself to God, and needed no other priest
* through his
: so Heb. ix. 14,
eternal Spirit he offered up himself. Yea, and
2. He finds a sacrifice also, which was in a true respect his own, a
respect wherein it was not God s, himself offering up his body, Heb. x. 10, and pouring forth his soul an offering for sin, Isa. liii. 10. And, 3. He is the altar himself: Heb. xiii. 10, We have an altar whereof
they have no right to eat, which serve the tabernacle. And so he offers
all upon his own cost, and borrows nothing.
Thirdly, Now in the last place, let us take a brief survey of alllhose
inseparable inconveniences (mentioned in the first part of this discourse) which we found to attend upon and clog the passive obedience of all mere
creatures, if they should presume to undertake it, and you shall see them
all to melt away, and come to nothing before his fulness. As,
First, The creatures would very hardly have so much as dared to die and
undergo it for us : Kom. v. 7, For a good man peradventure one would
dare die : Jer. xxx. 21, Who hath engaged his heart, says God, to draw
nigh unto me? No creature durst do it, but only, this one that shall come out of the midst of you (as there) ; he shall draw near to me. He
durst encounter with his Father s wrath ; he hath the hardiness to encounter with it, and to bear it and not be broken. The wrath of God it broke the backs of angels, but, Isa. xlii. 14,
* My servant, says he, whom I uphold, shall not be broken. Again, Secondly, Will he be overcome with it, or always satisfying ? No ; where
as if any of the creatures had had the boldness to undertake it, yet they must have been always satisfying, and so we should never have come to have our bond out ; but Christ will bear it, so as to come at last to say, It is finished, as he did say at his death. He that was to be our mediator, was to rise again as a conqueror over death, to overcome hell, God s wrath, and not lie wrestling under them to eternity ; for if he had lain by it, and had been kept in prison, so long the debt had not been paid. If ever
therefore he will justify us by his death, he must overcome and rise again, else we should still be in our sins, as 1 Cor. xv. 17, And if Christ be not
raised, your faith is vain ; you are yet in your sins. And this no creature
could ever do, God s wrath would have held him tugging work to eternity, and they never have risen again from under it. He that overcomes that, must be as strong as God himself. Yea, and he must do this himself, by his own power too. It was not enough to be raised up, as Lazarus was, by the power of another ; that will not serve to satisfy for a sinner. For
that power that raised him, must first satisfy and overcome God s wrath,
eluctate, and break open the prison doors. Now if another power than his own had done it, that party that helped him had been in part the mediator, and so not he. But Christ being God, he is able to do all this, and to do
it by his own power. For,
1. Being God, he was backed with that power that was able to raise him
up, and to loose the pains of death ; yea, and it was impossible he should be held thereof, says Peter, Acts ii. 14. Those pains of death there men
tioned were from the wrath of God, which would have stayed all the creatures
CHAP. XII.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 135
in the world for* ever rising ; and the place implies that those pains would
not have let him go till they were loosened and overcome ; for if possible,
they would have held him ; but being he was God, it was not possible ; but he takes hell-gates, like another Samson, and throws them off their hinges,
carries them away, and swallows up death in victory.
2. He could raise himself up ; Destroy this temple, says he, John ii.
19, and I have power to raise it up, I myself. The body could not raise
itself, nor the soul have joined itself to that body ; therefore if he had been
but mere man, he could never have done it, but that Spirit, the eternal
Godhead, could : 1 Peter iii. 18, He was put to death in the flesh, that is, his human nature,
* but quickened in and by the Spirit, that is, his God head united thereunto. And he will thus overcome, not by mere power, by force, but in a way of justice, so as justice itself shall willingly let him
go free, as being itself first satisfied. Yea, he will overcome upon such terms that it shall be unjust to hold him any longer, unjust, and so impos
sible in that sense also ; for he will in a few hours pay the whole debt,
undergo the whole wrath due ; that which the creatures strength could endure but by drops (and therefore endures it ever), he will be able to bear
at once, so as justice itself shall say, It is finished, and I am satisfied.
And further, when he hath despatched it, there will be time enough left, even an eternity of time, to reward him in, and to be glorified with the glory he had before the world was. This was another inconvenience attended
the creatures satisfaction, that it must always be a-satisfying, and so should never have been rewarded ; which God would never put any creature to,
for then he should require and accept the highest obedience from a creature whom he should never have time to reward for it. But Christ can so
satisfy as there will be time enough to reward him in. Yea, and he needs but a little time to satisfy in, and then he will survive and live again to call
for his reward : He shall prolong his days, and see his seed, and be
* a great name above every name, which as a reward God gave him for his being obedient unto death, Phil. ii. 9. And, 3. Thirdly, Will his satisfaction serve but one sinner (as also I shewed would be the case if creatures had performed it ; yea, God must have
satisfied, Isa. liii. 11. And therefore in this text we read of
sacrificed as many innocent creatures as he meant to save sinners) ? No ; Christ s satisfaction will serve for worlds, Kom. v. 17, 18. He is able to
bring in such abundance of righteousness as abounds to many.
4. And in the last place, to crown the conclusion of this discourse with an additional weight of glory, that is more than all that hath been spoken. What will there be but just enough in this his obedience to make satisfac
tion for sin, and procure peace for sinners ? The creatures they could not have done so much. No ! But his will not only satisfy and make peace, but also reconcile, make friends : Col. i. 20, And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto him
self ; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. His righteousness will not only pacify vengeance, but there is enough in it
to bring us into favour with God. The worth and grace of his person is
such, and he so beloved, as it makes us, though sinners, graciously accepted in his beloved, Eph. i. 6, brings us into a degree of favour infinitely greater than ever, and more lasting. He is the natural Son of God, the beloved in whom God s soul is well pleased; and his love being conveyed to us through him, it falls upon us with more strength and fervour than ever. And also * That is, from. ED.
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this offering up himself was so sweet a smelling sacrifice to God (as Eph. v. 2), that although God expressed never so much anger against Christ as when he hung upon the cross, yet he was never so well pleased by him as then ; nay, he was more pleased than he had been displeased with all the
sins the creatures have or can commit. The damned spirits their punish ment satisfies not ; vengeance can never suck out blood enough ; and yet
if what they did could satisfy, it would never rise so high as to please God, never be of worth enough to bring them into favour again. But here when
first vengeance had sucked its full, and falls off satisfied, then the favour of
his person, the willingness of his obedience, purchaseth an overplus, a re
* unsearchable riches, Eph. iii. 8, not only able to pay our debts the first day (and that is the least part of the
dundancy of merit, a surplusage of riches,
benefit by it), but enough besides to purchase heaven itself as a portion for us, the favour of God. Yea, as much there is of it as we can spend or take out
in glory to eternity. God had large thoughts of great and glorious bless
ings to be bestowed upon his people, and the righteousness of Christ is as
large in merit as God s heart in purposes, adequate thereto ; therefore the
apostle makes God s grace and Christ s righteousness of equal extent, so
that what God intended to be bestowed, his righteousness hath purchased : Bom. v. 17-20,
* For if by one man s offence death reigned by one ; much more
they which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall
* Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation ; even so by the
reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Ver. 18,
righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of
life. Ver. 19, For as by one man s disobedience many were made
sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Ver.
* Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where
20,
sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Yea, the merit of this his obedience is so great, as it shall never be rewarded to the full ; the saints
shall not have to eternity the full worth of it out in glory.
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