CONTENTS
[ I ] * THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE.
SERMON XXXVIII.
Wherein four weighty Ends of CHRIST'S Humiliation are opened, and particularly applied.
Isa. liii. 2. He shall fee the travail of his foul, andbefatisfied.
WEE are now arrived at the last particular which we designed to speak to in Christ'sstate of humiliation, namely, the designs and blessed ends for which he was sodeeplyabafed.
It is inconsistent with the prudence of a common agent, to beat vast expences of time, pains, and cost, and not to propound to himfelfadesign worthy of all those expences. And it is much less imaginable, that Christ should so stupendoufly abase himself, by stooping from the bosom of his Father to the state of the dead, where our lastdisconrse left him, if there had not been some exT cellent, and glorious thing in his eye, the attainment whereof, might give him a content and satisfaction, equivalent to all the sorrows, and a basements, he endured for it.
And so much isplainlyheld forth in this scripture, " He shall " see the travail of his soul, and be satisfied."
In which words three things fall under our consideration.
First, The travailing pangs of Christ.
So the agonies of his soul, and torments of his body are fitly called, not only because of the sharpness and acutenessofthem,being in that respect, like birth-pangs of a travailing woman, for so this * word signifies, butalsobecausethey fore-run, and make way for the birth,which abundantly recompences all those labours.
I shall not here infiftuponthepangs and agonies endured by Christ in the garden, or upon the cross, which the prophet stiles " the travail of his
" foul," having, in the former sermons, opened it largely in its particulars, but pass to the ,,This wordsignifiesboth the birth and pain attend. ingit.
Strigel.VOL. II.
SERM . XXXVIII .
The Fountain of Life.
Second Thing considerable in these words; and that is the assured fruits and effects of this his travail ; he shall fee the travail of his soul.
By seeing, understand the fruition, obtainment, or enjoyment of the end of his sufferings. He shall not shed his blood upon an hazard : his design shall not mifcarry; but he shall certainly fee the ends he aimed at accom plished.
" And Thirdly, This shall yield him great satisfaction : as a woman forgets her sorrow, for joy that a man is born into " the world," John xvi. 21. he shall see it, and be satisfied.
As God, when he had finished the work of creation, viewed that his work with pleasure and satisfaction ; so doth our exalted Redeemer, with great contentment, behold the happy issues
*of his hard sufferings.
It affords pleasure to am an to see great affairs, by orderly conduct, brought to happy issues.
Much more doth it yield delight to Jesus Christ, to see the results of "that most profound wisdom and love, wherein he carried on redemption-work. All runs into this doctrine.
Doct. That all the blessed designs and ends for which the Lord Jesus Christ humbled himself to the death of the cross, Shall certainly be attained, to his full content and satisfaction.
MY present business is not to prove, that Christ shall certainly obtain what he died for ; nor to open the great satisfaction and pleasure which will arise to him out of those issues of his death, but to point at the principal ends of his death ; making some brief improvements as we pass along.
First, Then let us enquire into the designs and ends of Christ's humiliation, at least the main and principal ones ; and we shall find, that as the sprinkling of the typical blood in the
Old Testament was done for four weighty ends or uses, answerably, the precious and invaluable blood of the Teftator and surety of the New Testament is shed for four weighty ends also.
First, That blood was shed and applied to deliver from danger; Exod. xii. 13. " And the blood shall be to you for a 66. + token upon the houses where you are ; and when I fee
" the blood, I will pass over you and the plague shall not be " upon you, to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt."
+ The Jews implicitly acknowledged by this ceremony, that they were to be liberated from eternal death by the blood of the Meffial
Vatab.
SERM . XXXVIII .
The Fountain of Life.
Secondly, That blood was shed to make an atonement betwixt God and the people; Lev. iv. 20. "And he thall do with the " bullock as he did with the bullock for a fin-offering ; so shall
" he do with this; and the priest shall make an atonement for " them, and it shall be forgiven them."
Thirdly, That blood was shed to purify persons from their ceremonial pollutions, Lev. xiv. 6. 7. "He shall dip the cedar
" wood, and scarlet, and hyffop, with the living bird, in the " blood of the bird that was killed over the running water, and " he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the " leprosy seven times ; and shall pronounce him clean, and " shall let the living bird loose in the open field,"
Fourthly, That † blood was shed to ratify and confirm the testament or covenant of God with the people, Exod. xxiv. 8.
" And Moses tooktheblood, and sprinkled it on the people and " said, behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath
" made with you concerning all these words."
These were the fourmainends for shedding, and sprinkling that typical blood.
Suitably, there are four principal ends for hedding and applying Christ's blood.
As that typical blood was shed to deliver from danger, so this was shed to deliver from wrath, even the wrath to come.
That was shed to make an atonement, so was this.
That was shed to purify persons from uncleanness, fowas this.
That was shed to confirm the Testament, so was this.
As will appear in the following particulars more at large.
First, One principal design and end ofthedding the blood of Christ was to deliver his people from danger, the danger of that wrathwhichburns down to thelowesthell.
So you find, 1 Theff. i. 10. " Even Jesus who delivered us from the wrath to come."
Here our misery is both specified and aggravated.
Specified, in calling it wrath, a word of deep and dreadful fignification.
The damned best understand the importanceofthatword. And aggravated, in calling it wrath to come, or coming wrath.
Wrath to come implies both the futurity and perpetuity of this wrath.
It is wrath that shall certainly and inevitably come upon sinners. As sure as the night follows the day. As sure as the winter follows the summer, so shall wrath follow fin, and the pleasures thereof.
Yea, itisnotonly certainly future, but when A2 * Seven times, Signifies perfect expiation; this number was consecrated to denote perfection.
Menoch.
+ The shedding and sprinkling of blood signifies that the covenant would be sure and stable, even with the hazard of life.
Rivet.