Chapter IV
That God, in pursuance of his gracious design to save sinners, exercised his wisdom to contrive the fittest means of accomplishing it. Though God
might have pardoned sin without satisfaction, yet he would not; and the
reasons of it.
As God s purpose was thus strongly bent upon the salvation of men, so
his wisdom and counsel were exercised about the means whereby it might * Qu. he ? ED
CHAP. IV.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 15
be effected ; and it is a business that requires the depths of his wisdom. We silly men set upon many projects, which at first view delight and affect
us ; and we are hot upon them, which yet upon consultation we find not
feasible, and so leave them, meeting with such difficulties in them as we know not how to compass them ; though when the heart is fully set upon any business, it will set wit and invention a-work to find out all means that
wit can reach to.
Now, as God s strong purpose and delights were in this great work, so
also his depths of wisdom were in it also. Therefore God s will is said to have counsel joined with it, to work all by counsel, Eph i. 11. He works
all by counsel, to effect and bring to pass what his will hath pitched upon, and the stronger his will is in a thing, the deeper are his counsels about
it ; and this business, as he resolves to have it carried, will prove such as
will draw out his depths of wisdom.
And therefore as you have seen his will thus strongly pitched upon it, as his highest and deepest project, to manifest the dearest affection in him
to the utmost, so you shall now see his wisdom soar as high (indeed in
finitely) out of our sight, thoughts, and imaginations, to find out a corre
spondent means, not only to effect it, but in effecting it to shew both love and wisdom, and give full satisfaction to his justice, which was infinitely beyond the reach of any created understanding to have found out.
There was one way indeed which was more obvious, and that was, to
pardon the rebels, and make no more ado of it ; for he might if he had
pleased have ran a way and course of mere mercy, not tempered with justice at all. He might have pardoned without satisfaction. I will not now dis
pute it ; only this I will say for the confirmation of it, to punish sin being an act of his will, as well as other works of his ad extra, may therefore be
suspended as he himself pleaseth. To hate sin is his nature ; and that sin deserves death is also the natural and inseparable property, consequent, and demerit of it ; but the expression of this hatred, and of what sin deserves by actual punishment, is an act of his will, and so might be
suspended.
But besides that this way would not manifest such depths of love, though thus to have pardoned one man had shewn more love than was shewn to ah
1 the angels who never sinned ; it also was not adequate and answerable to all those his glorious ends, and purposes, and other resolutions in this
plot, which he will be constant unto, and make to meet in it (and it is the proper use of wisdom to make all ends meet) ; and God will not break one rule or purpose he takes up ; and he hath other projects afoot besides. For,
First, He meant to give a law, whereof he will not have the least iota to
perish or be in vain ; Mat. v. 18, For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law, till
all be fulfilled. Which law might both discover what was sin, and what a heinous thing it was, and shew by a threatening the punishment which it
naturally doth deserve, and what the sinner might expect in justice from him ; this was necessary, for where there is no law there is no sin ; Eom. v. 13, Sin is not imputed where there is no law. And otherwise there should have been no sinner actually capable of punishment.
Secondly, Giving this law he takes upon him to be a judge, and the judge of all the world ; for in the very making of the law he declares him self to be so.
Thirdly, If so, then he is engaged upon many strong motives to shew
16 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BOOK I.
his justice against sin in that punishment he threatened ; though still in
that he is judge of all the world, and maker of the law, he could if he
pleased forbear to execute those threatenings (seeing a note of irrevocation was not added to them) ; for he that made the law may repeal that part of
it, yet most strong motives these are to execute them.
For is he not the judge of all the world ? And is it not a righteous thing with God to render vengeance ? 2 Thess. i. 5, 6, Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of
the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer : ver. 6, Seeing it is a
righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble
you. And shall not the Judge of all the world do right ? Gen. xviii. And
is he not therefore to set a copy to all judges else, being judge of all the world ? Primum in quolibet genere, est men-sum reliquorum. And is not he an abomination to him, that justifies the unrighteous and condemns the innocent ? Prov. xvii. 15. These may not dispense with the laws, because
they are but his justices ; and though he might dispense, being the supreme
judge, yet if all the world be his circuit, and he means to condemn the
angels by the law, and shew his justice on them, how will he clearly over come when he judgeth them ? as it is in Eom. iii. 4. Stop their mouths, as it is at the 19th verse, if he shews not his justice against those sins he
pardons. And though he might say to them, Pay what you owe ; what is
that to you? yet even the men he pardons, and pardons to that end to shew
his mercy, would esteem sin less, and pardon less, if it were procured and obtained lightly ; and should sin, which is the greatest inordinacy, and would not be brought in compass in his government, which doth order all things, be
left to its extravagant course, and passed unregarded, and escaped as free
as holiness ?
And again, are not all his attributes his nature, his justice as well as
mercy ? his hatred of sin, as well as the love of his creature ? And is not that nature of his pure act, and therefore active, and therefore provokes
all his will to manifest these his attributes upon all occasions ? Doth not
justice boil within him against sin, as well as his bowels of mercy yearn towards the sinner? Is not the plot of reconciliation his masterpiece, wherein he means to bring all his attributes upon the stage ? And should
his justice, and this expressed by a law, keep in and sit down contented, without shewing itself ? No ; and therefore he resolves to be just, and have his justice and law satisfied, as well as to justify the sinner ; Bom.
* To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness
: that he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. And as to run a course of mere rigorous justice pleased him not, so likewise nor to stretch the pure absolute prerogative of mercy. Wherefore some of the fathers
iii. 26,
have, after the manner of men, brought in mercy and justice here pleading; the project of mercy was his delight, as mercy is, Micah vii. 18. And he had resolved above all to shew it. But then justice also is his sceptre, whereby he is to rule, and govern, and judge the world. Wherefore his wisdom, as a middle attribute, steps in, and interposeth as a means of mediation between them both, and undertakes to compound the business, and to accommodate all, so as both shall have their desire and aims, their
full demonstration and accomplishment.
CHAP. V.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 17