Of the Mediatorial Person of Christ
The agency, manifold stations, and relations of the Son of God, in the making, fulfilment, and administration of the covenant of grace, plainly manifest him the Mediator of it; — to which three things were necessary: 1. A mediatorial constitution of person, that, having the nature of both parties, he might be a middle person between God and men, and qualified to lay his hand on both, in order to their reconcilement, 1 Tim. ii. 5, 6. Job ix. 33. 2. A mediatorial office, authoriz¬
ing and qualifying him to manage for us toward God, — and from God toward us, every thing necessary to make up the breach, Prov. viii. 23. Heb. ix. 15. viii. 6. 3. A mediatorial
state, in which his condition might correspond with that which was necessary for purchasing or preserving the reconciliation between God and us, Luke xxiv. 26. Phil. i. 7 — 11. Heb. ii. 9, 10.
If God had not intended to redeem a part of lost mankind, his Son had never become man. 1. Without this gracious design, God had no end worthy of such a marvellous work as the incarnation of his Son. 2. The Scripture alway represents the love of God to fallen men as the cause of the mission and incarnation of his Son, John iii. 16. Horn. v. 6 — 18.
1 John iv, 9, 10. 3. It never mentions any other end of
Christ’s incarnation, but to glorify God in the salvation of men. Nor, till man had ruined himself, did the least appearance of it take place, Gen. iii. 15. Matth. i. 21. Luke i. 67. ii. 34. John i. 29. Matth. ix. 12, 13. xviii. 11. xx. 28. Gal. iv. 4, 5. 1 Tim. i. 15. Heb. ii. 14. 1 John ii. 1, 2. iii. 5, 8. 4. All his offices of Mediator, Redeemer, Surety, Prophet, Priest, and King, respect men as fallen. Such only he instructs and calls to repentance, Isa. lxi. 1 — 3. Mat. ix. 13.
Heb. v. 2. For such only he offers sacrifice, and intercedes with God, 1 Tim. ii. 5. Isa. liii. 4 — 12. 1 John ii. 12. John xvii. Heb. vii. 7, 25. Rom. viii 33, 34. Such only he sub¬ dues, governs, and protects, Psalm cx. 3. Rom. viii. 2. John
x. 27, 28. Ezek. 34, 36. - The natural goodness of God no
more required his Son to assume our nature, than it required
him to assume the angelic. - Innocent creatures would have
had a proper head in God himself. - Christ is not called the
first begotten of every creature, because men were made after his image as incarnate, but because he is the only Son of God, begotten from all eternity, before any creature was formed; and because of his superior excellence and dominion over every
creature, Col. i. 15. - But, if God intended to redeem fallen
men, it was necessary that a divine person should become man. 1. God’s justice and other perfections required, that no sinner should be saved, unless an infinite ransom were paid for them, — the law fulfilled, wid sin punished in that very nature which had sinned, Heb. ix. 22. Acts xx. 28. Mat. xx. 28. Epb. i. 7. Col. i. 14, 15. Ezek. xviii. 4. 2. If any lower mean could
have effected our redemption, God’s infinite wisdom and good¬ ness could not have exposed nis own Son to such debased obedience and tremendous suffering, Heb. ii. 10. Lam. iii. 33.
It was not till about the four thousandth year from the creation of the world, that in the fulness of time fixed in the purpose of God, and marked in his inspired predictions, and when the world was in the most proper condition for it, that the Son of God came in the flesh. But preparations had all along been making for it. 1. The necessary occasion of it, through Adam’s fall and his ruining all mankind, was fore¬ seen by God from all eternity, Acts xv. 18. Psalm cxxxvi. 23. 2. In the most astonishing and sovereign love, God pur¬
posed to recover part of mankind from that sinful and miserable estate into which, he foresaw, they would reduce them¬ selves, 1 Thess. v. 9. 2 Thess, ii. 12, 13. Eph. i. 4, 3. The Son of God was set up from eternity as their Mediator, and multitudes of men chosen in him to everlasting life, Psalm lxxxix. 19, 20. Prov. viii. 23 — 30. 1 Pet. i. 20. Eph. i. 4, 5. 2 Tim. i. 9. Tit. i. 2. 4. Hereupon ensued his entrance into
mediatorial glory suited to the then state of things, and a peculiar delight in the sons of men and in the habitable parts of the earth, in which he and they were to have their abode, and hold mutual fellowship, John xvii. 4 — 6. Prov. viii. 3E That delight in his future manhood, and connections with men, perhaps resembled, while it infinitely transcended, that regard which glorified souls have to their dead bodies, and desire of reunion with them, in the resurrection. 5. It was indeed proper, that his coming in the flesh should be de-& 1 erred, — till the necessity of such a mean of reforming the world should be fully manifested, — ignorance and learning, want of ceremonies, and a multitude of them in religion, — external mercies and judgments, all proving ineffectual; — till sufficient marks for examining his character should be leisure¬ ly pre-exhibited, — till men’s longings for him should be exceedingly awakened, and so his incarnation more honour¬ able -till there should be a sufficient number of hell-hardened professors of the true religion to persecute and murder him, — and of friends and enemies to attest his labours, death, and resurrection; — and of men to experience his benevolent miracles, and the conquering power of his gospel. But no sooner had Adam sinned, and ruined himself and all his posterity, than the Son of God, as one eager to discover his mercy and love, intimated his purpose to become man, and suffer for our l’edemption, Gen. iii. 8 — 15. 6. His heart being exceedingly set upon his mediatorial work, he, in a multitude of predictory promises, publicly intimated his incarnation, sufferings, resurrection, and gathering of a numerous people to him¬ self, insomuch, that not one important circumstance relative to his appearances, work, or success, was left unforetold, Luke xxiv. 25, 27, 44 — 47. John i. 45. Acts x. 43. xiii. 27. xxvi. 22. Iiom. iii. 21. 1 Pet. i. 11, 12. 1 Cor. xv. 3, 4. 7. Men being dull of hearing, and slow of heart to conceive or believe that which was merely hinted in words, he, in a multitude of personal and real prefigurations of himself and his concerns, addressed the very senses) of his peculiar people, Col. ii. 17. Heb. x. 1. ix. 9, 10. 8. To mark his delightful intention,
and earnest desire to assume our nature, he often appeared as a man, and conversed with his favourites Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joshua, the Israelites at Bochim, Gideon, Manoah and his wife, Daniel, Zechariah, &c. Gen. xviii. 2 xxvi. 2, 24. xxxii. 24. Josh v. 13. Judges ii. 1 — 4. vi. 11 — 22. xiii. 2 — 19. Dan. x. 5. Zech. i. 8. And perhaps the frequent ascription of human members and affections to God under the Old Testament, was intended to keep men in constant remembrance of the future incarnation of his Son. 9. Multitudes of the persons represented by him were, with his Father’s consent, admitted to fellowship with God, not only on earth, but in heaven, and two of them soul and body, — not merely as first-fruits of his chosen people, but as an earnest of his future sit¬ ting in the midst of the throne, as the Man God’s fellow, and the First-born among many brethren, Heb. xi. 13. Gen. v. 24. Heb. xi. 5. 2 Kings ii. 11.
The Son of God hath long ago become man. 1. The Sceptre, Tribeship, or power of supreme government, which was foretold, should continue with Judah, the fourth son of Jacob, and his posterity, till Shiloh should come, is now long ago departed, Gen. xlix, 10. Shiloh here promised can be no Other than the Messiah; — not Moses, who was not of the tribe of Judah, nor had any royal power transferred from it; — nor Saul, who was not anointed at Shiloh, but at Ramah, and had his royalty confirmed to him at Gilgal, and from whom it departed to David of the tribe of Judah, and his descendants, 1 Sam. ix. — xi. xiii. xv. xvi. 2 Sam. i. — v; — nor Jeroboam, who was not crowned at Shiloh, but at Sheehem, 1 Kings xii. 12. Chron. x. Nor did the sceptre then, or for many ages after, depart from the tribe of Judah, 2 Chron. x. — xxxvii. Nor can She bet, or sceptre, here mean a rod of oppression, as it is connected with a Lawgiver, and its continuance mentioned as an honour and blessing to Judah, Nor is it true, that a rod of oppression hath al way lain on the tribe of Judah; for under David, Solomon, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Uzziah, Hezekiah, Simon Maccabeus, and John Hircanus, &c. it exceedingly flourished in power and wealth. It must therefore mean, that pre-eminent power of government, which that tribe retained, till about
the four thousandth year of the world. - At their departure
from Egypt it was most numerous, and in the wilderness marched in the front of the Hebrew nation. It was first and most extensively settled in proper Canaan. It, by God’s direction, led the attack upon the remaining Canaanites and rebellious Benjamites, Judges i. 1, 2. xx. 18. For almost 500 years, from David to Zedekiah, all the Hebrew kings whom God authorized by peculiar covenant, were of the tribe of Judah. Even during their captivity in Babylon, its sovereignty was not totally extinguished. Daniel and his companions bore rule. Jehoiachin was exalted above other prisoners, Dan. i. — iii. v. vi. 2 Kings xxv. 27. After their return from Babylon, Zerubbabel, Neheraiah, the Maccabees, and the Sanhedrim, had the government
of the nation in their hand. - The sceptre began to depart
from Judah, when Pompey the Roman general took Jerusalem about sixty years before Christ’s birth, It farther departed, when, about A. D. 10, Archelaus Was dethroned, and Judea made a Roman province. It fully departed about A. D. 70, when Titus and his Roman troops utterly destroyed Jerusalem and its temple, and cities around. 2. Daniel’s seventy weeks, in the end of which Messiah was to appear and be cut off, are long
ago expired, Dan. ix. 24 — 27. - They must be understood of
weeks of years, a day for a year, as in several other predictions, Ezek. iv. 5, 6. Dan. vii. 23. xii. 12, 13. Rev. xi. 2, 3. xii. 0. xiii. 5. in allusion to the Jewish Weeks of years, which regulated their Releases and Jubilees, Lev. xxv. Seventy common weeks are too short for such an emphatical prediction. Nor did any important event happen at the end of any such seventy weeks, froy>
any remarkable commandment to restore Jerusalem. The destruction of Jerusalem and its temple, and the desolation of Jerusalem by abominable armies, were foretold as immediately following these seventy weeks, Dan. ix. 23 — 27. These seventy weeks, or 490 years, commencing not from any edict of Cyrus or Darius to rebuild the temple, but from one of Artaxerxes in the 7th or rather 20th year of his reign to rebuild the city of Jerusalem, Ezra i. vi. vii. Neh. ii. expired about A. M. 4030, when Jesus Christ was crucified, not long after which, the Gentiles were brought into the Christian church, Jerusalem and its temple and the country about laid desolate, even unto this day. 3. The Jewish temple built by Zerubbabel, in which the Messiah was foretold to appear, and render it more glorious by his presence and work than Solomon’s had been, notwithstanding it wanted several principal ornaments, Hag. ii. 0 — 9. Mai. iii. 1. is long ago turned into an heap of rubbish. 4. Messiah was to come while the tribe of Judah and family of David continued distinct, and preserved their genealogies, which hath not been the case for about seventeen hundred years past, Gen. xlix. 10. Isa. xi. 1. Jer. xxiii. 5, G. 5. Messiah’s coming in the flesh was to be quickly succeeded by God’s admission of the Gentiles into his church instead of the Jews, and by the abolishment of idols, Gen. xlix. 10. Isa. liii. liv. lv. Zech. xiii. 2. Isa. ii. 18, 20. These events began remarkably to take place, more than seventeen hundred years ago.
Jesus of Nazareth was, and is, the true Messiah. 1. All the characteristics of Messiah relative to his forerunner, Mai. iii. 1. iv. 5. Isa. xl. 3 — G. Mat. iii. 3 — rl4. Luke i. iii. John i. 19 — 34. iii. 23 — 3G. — his tribe and family, Gen. xlix. 10. Isa. xi. 1, 2. Matth. i. Luke i. 26 — 3G. ii, iii. 22 — 38. — and to the time, Gen. xlix. 10. Dan. ix. 24. Ilag. ii. 6, 7. Mai. iii. 1. — place, Mic. 2. Matth. ii. Luke ii. — and manner of his birth, Isa. vii. 14. Jer. xxxi. 22. Mat. i. 18 — 25. Luke i. 26 — 35. exactly agree to him. 2. The characteristics of Messiah’s person, God-man, Isa. ix. G. vii. 14. Luke i. 16, 17, 35. Horn. i. 4. ix. 5. — offices, Deut. xviii. 15 — 18. Acts iii. 22. vii. 35, 37. Mat. xi. 5.
xvii. 5. v. — vii. xiii, - Psal. cx. 4. Heb. iv. 14. v. vii. ix. x.
Mat. xxvi. xxvii. — Psal. ii. G. lxxxix. 3, 4, 19, 20. Ezek. xxxiv. 23, 24. Isa. ix. 6, 7. xxxii. 1. Jer. xxiii. 5, G. xxx. 21. Dan. vii. 14. John ii. 13 — 22. xviii. 36. Matth. xxi. 12. x. xvi. 18, 19. x xviii. 18 — 20. Phil. ii. 8 — 11. Eph. i. 22, 34. iv. 11, 12. — and states, Psal. xxii. lxix. Isa. liii. Luke xxiv. 26. Heb. i. 3. ii. 8 — 10. 1 Cor. xv. 3, 4. Phil. ii. 7 — 11. 1 Pet. i. 19 — 21. exactly answer to him. 3. His doctrines and works are the very same which were.ascribed to Messiah by the prophets, and are most proper for him. His doctrines, how mysterious and holy! how heavenly and divine! and how contrary to the corrupt inclinations of men! — -In what simple manner! and by what unpromising instruments were they published and spread! and yet how powerfully ‘effectual in converting the nations! — His jniracles, how numerous, public, and benevolent! Isa. ii. 2, 3, 4. xlviii. 17. lii. 15. liv. 13. Mic. iv. 2, 3. v. 3 Mai. iff. 2, 3. Mat. v. — x. xii. — xv. xvii. — vxix. Luke iv. — xix. John ii. — xviii. 4. For about 1740 years, the Gentiles have obedientially gathered to him as his people, Tsai. ii. 8. xxii. 27 — 31. xlv. 9. xlvii. lxvii. lxviii. 22. c. cxvii. 2. lxxii. Gen. xlix. 10, Isa. xlii. 6, 7. xlix. 6 — 12. xi. liv. Iv. Mat. ii. John iv. xii. 20. Acts
ii. x. — xx. Rom. xv. 16, 19. Eph. iff 8, 9. - But it must be
observed, that the spiritual blessings of Messiah’s kingdom are frequently foretold under carnal emblems, answerable to the Jewish dispensation, — as of an high house or temple, Isa. ii. 2.i Mic. iv. 1. great peace, Isa. xi. 6, 8. Hos. ii. 18. great light, Isa. xxx. 26. ix. 19, 20. a glorious citu and temple, Ezek. xl. — xlviii. great happiness in Canaan, Jer. iii. xxx. xxxi. — xxxiii. Ezek. xxxiv. xxxvi. xxxvii.
It hath already been proved, that Jesus of Nazareth is a divine person, God equal with the Father — Book II. It may be further demonstrated to every professed Christian from the many absurdities which necessarily attend the denial of it. 1. If Christ be not the Most High God, he must have been an introducer of blasphemy and idolatry, — in encouraging men to believe on, and worship himself. And even the Mahometan religion, which aims at the abolishment of all worship of creatures, must be much more excellent than the Christian. 2. If Christ be not the only true and Most High God, the Jews did well in crucifying him as a most infamous and blasphemous imposter, and persecuting his disciples, who publicly and obstinately maintained him to be the true God, and by a multitude of Old Testament oracles proved him to be so. 3. If he be not the Most High God, many leading oracles in our Bible are erroneous or trilling. The mystery of the gospel is altogether insignificant. The love of God in sending Christ to die for us Is of no such excellence and virtue as the Scriptures represent. His death is but a metaphorical atonement, unavailable to the redemption of our soul. 4. If Christ be not the Most High God, the language of Scripture is most obscure, seductive, im¬ pious, and absurd, in attributing to him the names, perfections, works, and worship of God, &c. And either the prophets must have miserably misrepresented matters concerning him, or the apostles miserably misunderstood them, in applying them to prove the true divinity of Christ. 5. If Christ be not the Most High God, the Christian religion must be a system of mere superstition, appointed by a creature; — a mere comedy,
which one falsely appears in the character of the only true and Most High God. All its miracles, mysteries, and predictions must be magical tricks, or diabolical delusions, calculated to promote faith in, and worship of, a mere creature, instead of the Supreme God.
In his incarnation, the Son of God assumed a true man¬ hood, a human soul, and a true body formed of the substance of the Virgin Mary, — not immediately created or sent down from heaven. 1. God’s wisdom and equity required, that the broken law, under which we stood, should be fulfilled in the very same nature that had sinned; and that our Redeemer should be near of kin unto us, that the right of redemption might be his, even in respect of his manhood, Ezek. xviii. 4. Luke i. 71. Rom. vii. 4. Eph. v. 23. 2. He is exceeding frequently called a Man, and the Son of man, Psalm lxxx. 17. Dan.
vii. 13. Zech. vi. 12. xiii. 7. Mat. viii. 20. ix. 6, &c. 3. The
Scripture represents him as the seed of the woman, Gen. iii. 15; the seed of Abraham, Gen. xii. 3. xxviii. 18. xxii. 18; the off¬ spring of Jesse, Isa. xi. 1; seed of David, and fruit of his loins, Rom. ix. 5. i. 3. Luke i. 32; the seed of Mary; made of her,
and the fruit of her womb, Luke i. 31, 32, 35. Gal. iv. 4. —
And without admitting this, his double genealogy must be use¬ less, take, and seductive, Mat. i. 1 — 17. Luke iii. 23 — 38. The scripture never calls him the Son of Joseph but on one occasion, and that because Joseph acknowledged and educated him, as if he had been his child, Luke ii. 41, 44. iii. 23. 4. If he
had received his body from heaven, or by any immediate creation, he had not been like unto us in all things, sin excepted, Heb. ii. 17; or related to us, or marked with the prophetic characters of the lineage of Messiah, Gen. iii. 15. xxii. 18. xlix. 10. Isa. xi. 1, 10. Jer. xxxiii. 15, 1G. Isa. vii. 14. 5. The
Scripture plainly represents him as having a true human soul, Isa. liii. 10. Psalm xxii. 21. Mat. xxvi. 38. John xii. 27; with a finite and limited understanding, Luke ii. 52. Mark xiii. 32; — and a will distinct from, and subordinate to, his divine, Mat. xxvi. 39; — and a true human body. Mat. xxvi. 26. Luke xxiv. 39; which partook of flesh and blood, and did eat, drink, hunger, thirst, sleep, become weary, shed tears, and sweat drops of blood, Heb. ii. 11, 14, 1G. Mat. xi. 19. iv. 2. John xix. 28. iv. G. xi. 35. Luke xix. 41. xxii. 44.
In forming the manhood of Christ, the IIolv Ghost imparted no substance of his own, and so is not the father of it: but, 1. He formed part of the substance of the Virgin into his human body. 2. He formed his human soul in the closest union with that body, and that in union with his divine nature. 3. He sanctified this manhood in its very formation, and filled his sopl with a fulness of gifts and grace correspondent with its then condition, Isa. vii. 14. Jer. xxxi. 22. Mat. i. 20. Luke i. 35. — The fancy of Christ’s human soul being created before the foundation of the world, hath no countenance from Scripture; renders his manhood unlike to that of his brethren; and at¬ tempts to evade the proofs of his true Godhead drawn from his existence and acting under the Old Testament.
The Son of God assumed this human nature into Ids own divine person. The Scripture represents him as God and man in the same person; — made flesh, and yet the only begotten Son of God, John i. 14. Gal. iv. 4. Rom. viii. 3; — in the form of God and equal to God, and yet in fashion as cl man, Phil. ii. 6, 7. Heb. iv. 14, 15. v. 7, 8; — as God manifested in the flesh, 1 Tim. iii. 16; — as made of the seed of David, or fathers, and yet the Son of God — God blessed for ever, Rom. i. 3, 4. ix. 5; as put to death in the flesh, and quickened in the Spirit, 1 Pet. iii. 18; — as God, and yet shedding his blood for our redemption, Acts xx. 28; — as man, and yet God’s fellow, Zech. xiii. 7; — as Jehovah, and yet a branch out of David’s root, Jer. xxiii. 5, 6. xxxiii. 15, 16; — as a child born, and yet the mighty God. Isa. ix. 6. Mic. v. 2; — as Immanuel, and yet born of a woman, Isa. vii. 14. iv. 2. Mat. i. 23, Sre, &c.
In the union of Christ’s two natures in his divine person, two divine acts are observable: 1. A forming — uniting act, by which his manhood was at once formed and united to his person as the Son of God. This uniting of his manhood to his person, in the very formation of it, prevented its having any personality of its own, even as the uniting of our soul to our body in the very formation of it, prevents its having any existence, without relation to Adam as a covenant-breaking representative. All the divine persons concurred in this act, the Po¬ ther and the Son acting in, with, and through the Holy Ghost, Heb. x. A. ii. 14. Isa. vii. 14. Jer. xxxi. 22. xxiii. 5. xxxiii. 15. Zech. iii. 8. Luke i. 35. 2. An assuming act, in which the Son
only took to, or into his divine person the human nature, that his Godhead might dwell in it, or be, as it were, clothed with it for ever, Heb. ii. 14. John i. 14. Phil. ii. 6. Rom. viii. 3. Gal. iv. 4. Perhaps it would not have become the Godhead, That the Father should have assumed the manhood, as, being the first person in order of subsistence, he could not, in correspondence therewith, have been sent by the Son and Spirit, and acted as a Mediator towards them; — or being the Father in the Godhead, he could not become a Son in manhood. — -Nor, that the Holy Ghost should have assumed it, — as there would have been no divine person posterior, in order of subsistence, to have been sent by him to apply his purchased redemption. But it was infinitely condecent, that the Son should become man; that the middle person in the Godhead should be the Mediator be-OF THE MEDIATORIAL PERSON OF CHRIST.
tween God and naan; that he who was Son in the Godhead should be the Son of the Virgin in the manhood; that he, who is the only-begotten and well-beloved Son of God, should re¬ concile us to God; that he, who is the natural, necessary, and essential Son of God, should render us the adopted sons of God; that he, who is the Father’s Word, should declare unto us the Father’s mind and will; that he, who is the express image of his Father’s person, should restore in us the image of God.
The union of Christ’s divine and human natures, or the constitution of his mediatorial person, is produced by these two acts. This union is a permanent relation between both natures, and affects the divine nature which assumed the human, as well as the human which was assumed. And it is, 1. Personal, not that two persons, a divine and a human, are joined into one; but that two natures, a divine and human, are united in one person, who is at once true God and true man, Col. ii. 9. Isa. vii. 14. ix. 6. Jer. xxiii. 5, 6. xxxiii. 15, 16. Zech. xiii. 7. Mic. v. 2. John i. 14. iff. 13. Rom. i. 3, 4. ix. 5. Luke i. 16, 17, 35. Phil. ii. 6, 7. Heb. iv. 14, 15. ix. 14. Acts iii. 15. 1 Cor. ii. 8.
1 Tim. iii. 16. 1 Pet. iii. IS. - The Son of God could not
have assumed a human person, which continued to be such. As no finite substance can subsist in more subjects than one at the same time, Christ’s finite manhood could not have subsisted both in his person, and in its own personality. If Christ had a human person, he could not be equally related to all men. He could not have obeyed the law of God under the weight of its curse, nor have borne the infinite load of punishment due to us. Nor could his obedience and suffering have been of infinite value to answer and magnify the broken law for us. — He could not have assumed a human person,, the personality of which ceased upon its being assumed by him. Such a notion hath no foundation in Scripture. A human nature formerly possessed by a sinner, or even a mere creature, could not decently be assumed into a personal union with the Sop of God. It was not possible for a human person to be formed without original sin. — But it must be observed, that, 1. The divine personality of the Son of God being in itself as unchangeable as his divine nature, could neither be destroyed nor changed, Heb. xiii. 8. Mai. iii. 6. Jamesi. 17. Exod. iii. 14. 2. Christ’s manhood having been united to his divine person in the very formation of it, could never have any personality or particular subsistence of its own; nor did it need it, having, by the uniting act, received a divine personality, instead of its own human one. Nor doth the Want of human personality, especially when supplied to in¬ finite advantage, render his manhood less perfect, it being soul and body united, not its mode of subsistance, which constitutes a complete human nature. 3. Christ’s manhood is not irnmedi - ately united to his divine nature, considered absolutely in itself, — but as it is characterized, and subsists in the person of the Son: and hence is not personally united with it, as it subsists in the Father and Holy Ghost, Rom. viii. 3. Gal. iv. 4. John i. 14. 4. Though, in its immensity, Christ’s divine nature infinitely transcend his human, which can be but in one small place at once, yet in its spirituality it is whole everywhere; and in this view is united with, and dwells in his manhood, 1 Tim. iii. 16. Isa. ix. 6. vii. 14. John i. 14. Col. ii. 4.
2. It is an uncompounding union, both the united natures
retaining their distinct essential properties. Hence we find ascribed to Christ, 1. Infinitely different ?iatures, Rom. i. 3, 4. viii. 3. ix. 5. 1 Pet. iii. 18. Heb ix. 14. John i. 14. 1 Tim. iii. 16. Phil. ii. 6, 7. Isa. ix. 6. vii. 14. Gal. iv. 4. 2. Different understandings and wills, — knowing all things, John ii. 25. xxi. 17; and yet not knowing the time of the last judgment, Mark xii. 32; — having one will with the Father, John v. 19. x. 30. xiv. 9, 10. 1 John v. 7; and yet having a will different from the Father’s, Luke xxii. 42. 3. Contrary circumstances or proper¬
ties, as, to leave the world, in respect of his manhood, John xvi. 7, 28; and yet to be alway in it, in respect of his Godhead, Mat. xxviii. 20. xviii. 20: to be a child born, and yet the ever¬ lasting Father, Isa. ix. 6; Almighty God, and yet crucified through weakness, Gen. xvii. 1. Isa. ix. 6. 2 Cor. xiii. 4.
3. It is an indissoluble and everlasting union. 1. If
Christ had intended to lay aside his manhood, he had probably done when he had finished his humbled service, in which it was peculiarly necessary. Rut it is certain that he retained it in his resurrection and ascension, and will retain it in the last judgment, Acts i. 10 — 12. iii. 20, 21. Rev. i. 7. 2. Christ lives for evermore, in respect of that nature which was once dead, Rev. i. 18. Psalm xxi. 4. 3. The everlasting continuance of his me¬
diatorial office requires his perpetual retention of his manhood, — that, as the Lamb, he may be the everlasting light of heaven, Rev. xxi. 23; — that, as a priest for ever, he may make continual intercession for us, Psalm cx. 4. Heb. vii 25. Rom. viii. 34; — and that, as a king, he may for ever sit on the throne of his father David, Luke i. 32, 33. Isa. lx. 7. 4. All believers
shall have their bodies, as his members, fashioned like unto his glorious body, and be for ever with him, Phil. iii. 21. 1 Thess. iv. 17. His own manhood cannot then be supposed to lose its existence or high station. 5. The everlasting union of ids man¬ hood to his divine person is necessary, — In equity to itself, that it may receive the due reward of that debased obedience, which it performed, and suffering which it underwent in its united state; — and in kindness to us, that it may continue an everlasting monument of God’s love to us, and a mean of our familiarknowledge, love, and fellowship with him,
No real communication of divine properties, omnipresence; omniscience, omnipotence, or the like, ensues to the human nature from this union. 1. Christ’s divine nature being absolutely simple, all its essential properties must be communicated by this personal union to his manhood, or none of them at all. But how absurd would it be to maintain, that his manhood hath an unsuccessive eternity, is self-existent, absolutely independent, or a supreme God. 2. No distinguishing properties of any nature can be communicated, as, if they be rendered common to two or more natures, they are no more distinguish¬ ing. 3. As Christ’s divine nature is united to his human as really and closely as the human is to it, the properties of his divine nature can be no more communicable, by virtue of this union, to his human, than the finity, dependence, weakness, &c. of the human nature can be to the divine 4. Each of the natures being incapable of the properties of the other, there can be no communication of them without compounding the natures and forming one out. of both, as Eutychians absurdly supposed. 5. The divine properties, particularly mentioned, cannot be communicated. Omnipresence plainly contradicts the very nature of a body: that which is omnipresent could never have been conceived, or born, died, or been buried, — have risen from the grave, ascended to heaven, or return to judgment, — nor could have moved from place to place, as it is certain Christ did, or will do, Luke ii. 1 — 7. Mat. xxvi. — xxviii. John xx. xxi. vi. 24. xi. 15. xvi. 28. xvii. 11. Mark vi. 6. xvi. 19. Luke xxiv. 51. Acts i. 9 — 11. iii. 21. Heb. iv. 14. 1 Thess. iv. 14, 17. — It could not be omniscient, for it increased in wisdom, Luke ii. 40, 52; and when on earth knew not the time of the last judgment, Mark xiii. 32. — It was not almighty, but was weary, amazed, and very heavy, — troubled till it knew not what to say, and needed his Father’s help, John iv. 6. Mat. xxvi. 38. John xii. 27. Heb. v. 7. Isa. 1. 7, 9 xlii. 1. Nor can it, but God alone, quicken the dead, Rom. iv. 17. 1 Pet. iii. 18. John vi. 63. Psalm xxxvi. 9. Acts xxvi. 8.
But the true effect* of this personal union of Christ’s two natures are, 1. Communion of mutual interest in each other, John xii. 27. Psalm xvi. 10. 2. Conjunct anointing, which, as it re¬
spects his divine nature, includes the sending him and the preparing an human nature for the personal residence of his god¬ head, Gal iv. 4. Isa. xlviii. 16; and as it respects his manhood, denotes the actual bestowal of all necessary gifts and graces upon it.. And as these endowments were different in degree, in different periods, while the union was the same, they appear to have proceeded, not immediately from his divine nature, but from the Holy Ghost dwelling in his manhood, and qualifying it according to its growing capacity, and different states of hum, iliation or exaltation, Luke ii. 52. Mark xiii. 32. 3. Commu¬
nion in all mediatorial qualities, offices, and acts, — that, notwithstanding a particular nature be the immediate agent or sufferer, — the person God-man is reputed to have acted or suffered these things; He is reputed to obey the law, satisfy God’s justice, rise from the dead, return to judge the world, Mat. v. 17. 2 Cor. v. 21. Horn. i. 3, 4. 1 Tbess. iv. 14, 16. 4. The properties of both natures are ascribed to his person, God-man, — and even the properties or pertinents of the one nature are ascribed to him, when he is named from the other. — Thus we say, the blood of God, and that the Son of God was born, died, rose again; that the Lord of glory was crucified, Acts xx. 28. Rom. viii. 3. 1 Cor. ii. 8; and that the man Christ is God’s equal, knows all things, is every where, and almighty, Zech. xiii. 7. John xxi. 17. iii 13. Isa. is. 6. — For, though these things do not agree to the whole of Christ, or both his natures, — they agree to his whole person. God-man.
This close union of Christ’s two natures in one person, was necessary, that the works of both natures might be accepted by God for us, and relied on by us, as the work of his whole per¬ son, God-man. None but a God-man, who was at once our Creator and our near Kinsman, could have a full right to re¬ deem us. None but he could pay the price of our redemption,
or put us into the actual possession of it. - More particularly,
it was necessary that he, who was to be Mediator between an offended God and offending men, should partake of the natures of both, — that being nearly related to both, he might be care¬ ful for the interests of both, and qualified to do every thing proper for bringing both to an amicable and everlasting reconcile¬ ment. - It was necessary to his being our Redeemer, that he
might have full property in us and relation to us, — might be able to pay a suitable and all-sufficient ransom for us, — and might have proper sympathy with us, sufficient dignity and power to purchase and apply our redemption. - It was neces¬
sary to his being our Surety and sacrificing Priest, — that, as God, he might lawfully undertake for us, being absolute lord of his own person, obedience, and life; — might fully secure the payment of all that we owed to God’s law and justice; — might do the world no injury by his voluntary death; — -might willingly do all that law and justice required of him in our steadymight add infinite value to his obedience and suffering; — might know every particular person for whom he satisfied, and every circumstance relating to each of them; — and might, by his own power, conquer death, and rise from its prison and that, as man, the broken law, under which we stood, might, in all its demands of obedience, love to God and to men, — and of sufferings, take fast hold of him, and be exactly fulfilled by him, in
§08 OF TflE MEDIATORIAL PERSON OF CHRIST.
the very substance and kind in which we owed them; — and that, ill paying our debt, he might contract an experimental feeling of our infirmities, and set before us a perfect pattern of
holy obedience and patient suffering. - It was necessary to
his being our Advocate Or interceding Priest, — that, as God, he might remove himself from his debased state of atonement to that of his honorary intercession; — might, with proper dignity and confidence, appear in the presence of God for us; — might for ever sit with him on his throne, as the all-sufficient pledge of our everlasting peace and friendship with him, and take infeftment of the heavenly inheritance in our name; — might know all the necessities and inward desires of his people and might, in his intercession for them, counterbalance all their unworthiness, guilt, and want of earnestness in prayer, with his own dignity of person, fulness of merit, and efficacy of desire: — and that, as man, he might present our nature before God, as a complete fulfiller of all righteousness,- — and might intercede for us as our compassionate brother, who feels our infirmities. - -This conjunction of the divine and human natures
in the person of Christ, is also necessary to his execution of his 2>rophetical offixe, — that, as God, he might be equally present with all his disciples, in every age, Mat. xxviii. 20; — might have a comprehensive view of all divine truths, and of our need of instruction, John i. 18. Col. ii. 3; — might give full and comfortable evidence of the holiness, infallibility, and divine authority of his instructions, Mat. xvii. 5; — might confirm them by miracles wrought by his own power, John v. 36. x. 38; — might employ the Holy Ghost to concur with him in his teaching, John xvi. 7 — 14. Prov. i. 23; and render it effectual for the conviction, illumination, regeneration, sanctification, and comfort of his people, 2 Cor. iv. 6. iii. 18: — and that, as man, he might instruct us with brotherly affection, and in a manner adapted to our weakness; and might exemplify his doctrines and injunctions in his own person, life, and death, Mat. xi. 29,
30. - It was necessary to Ids execution of his kingly office, —
that, being God, his subjects might not be reduced lower in their redeemed, than they had been in their created state, Hos. i. 10, 11; and that lie might be equally near to, and capable to subdue, rule, and defend all his people in every place and period, Psalm cx. 2, 3. lxxii. 8, 9. xxviii. 9. xxix. 11. Zech. ix. 10. Isa. ix. 7; — might be able to withstand all the power and policy of hell and earth, Mat. xvi. 18; — might be head over all things to his church, Eph. i. 22; — might be able to convince, conquer, renew, comfort, sanctify and govern the hearts of all his elect, and to supply all their wants, Psalm xlv. 3 — 5. John xiv. 1. xv. 3 — 5. vi. G3. Phil. iv. 19. — and able to manage the unruly hearts of all his implacable enemies, devils or men, Prov. xxi. 1. Psalm lxxvi. 10. Rev. xvii. 17; and to call them to account for their conduct, Acts xvi. 31. Rev. xx. 12: — and beingman, he might not exalt his heart above his brethren subjected to him, but maintain a tender and condescending regard to them, Zech. ii. 8; — and might, by his own example, enforce obedience to that law which he enacts, and by which he will, in a visible manner, fix the eternal state of angels and men at the last day. - It is necessary to his implementing all his sav¬
ing relations of Father, Husband, Friend, Shepherd, &c. — While his manhood renders them near, delightful, and as it were natural towards men, his godhead renders them infinitely efficacious and comfortable, Song v. 9 — 16. Psalm xxiii. 1 — 6. xviii. 1 — 3. Isa. ix. 6. lxiii. 16. liv. 5 — It is necessarv to his states of humiliation and exaltation. While his manhood did or doth render them possible, real, and adequately exemplary to us, — his godhead rendered his humiliation infinitely deep, marvellously dignified, and the work of it truly and intrinsically meritorious, — and renders his exaltation inconceivably high, makes him capable to support and rightly to manage his un¬ paralleled glory, and makes it infinitely comfortable and efficacious to usward, 2 Cor. viii. 9. v. 21. Heb. ii. 17, 18. iv. 14 — 16. vi. 18 — 20. x. 19 — 22.
The grace and relative glory of this mediatorial person of Christ are exceedingly remarkable. Flis personal grace comprehends, 1. The grace of union, by which his manhood is graciously exalted to its high state of subsistence in the per¬ son of the Son of God, John i. 14, 1 Tim. iii. 16. Rom. viii.
3. Heb. ii. 11, 14. 2. The grace of unction, which lies in
God’s appointment of him to his mediatorial work, — and in his abundant furnishing of his human nature with gifts and graces for it, John x. 36. vi. 27, 29. iii. 34. Isa. xi. 2 — 4. lxi. 1. xlii. 1. 3. The grace of fellowship, which consists in those
happy fruits which proceed from the union of his natures,, and his unction by the Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. i. 30. Col. i. 19.
ii. 3, 10, 19. - Or, his personal grace consists in, 1. His fit¬
ness for his work, as God in our nature appointed to it, Col.
ii. 9. John iii. 16. 1 Tim. iii. 16. John i. 14. 2. His fulness
of grace lodged in him, sufficient for the supply of all his people, Col. 3. 19. ii. 10. Phil. iv. 19. 3. His excellency to en¬
dear, — he, in his person, offices, relations, and work, being every way suited to the understanding, conscience, desires, or necessities of our immortal souls, Song v. 10 — 16. Col. ii. 10,
iii. 11. 1 Cor. i. 30.
The relative glory of the person of Christ, God-man, lies in its manifold connections with the nature, perfections, purposes, covenants, and revealed truths of God; — and with believers’ familiar fellowship with God, — and all their saving
graces, and exercise of them, — and all their acceptable worship of God, and new obedience to him.
I. In respect of his nature, 1. God is one with, or the same as Christ, — in his divine nature, John x. 30. 1 John v. 7; in perfection, dignity, work, and worship, John v. 16 — 29. xvii. 9, 10. xiv. 9, 10; in will. Psalm xl. S; in affection, John xiv. 21, 23. 2 Thess. ii. 16; in interest and dominion, John xvii. 2, 9, 10. xvi. 15. xiv. 2, 9, 10. 2. God is with Christ,
eo-operating in the same work, John v. 17, 19. xiv. 23. 2 Thess.
11. 16 Prov. viii. 27 — 30; — in upholding and assisting his man¬
hood, Acts x. 38. Isa. xlii 1, 6. xlix. 2. 1. 7, 9; — in exercising love and favour towards him, John xvii. 24. Mat. iii. 17. Xvii. 5; — and in sharing the same honours, Rev. iii. 21. xxii. 1. 3. God is in Christ, — in mysterious co-existence of per¬
son, John xiv. 10, 11, 20. xvii. 21, 23; — in marvellous rest, satisfaction, and delight, Isa. xlii. 21. 2 Cor. v. 19. Psalm lxxx. 17. In him alone he is to be found by sinful and self-ruined men, Isa. lxvi. 1, 2. 2 Cor. v. 19 — 21. Eph. ii. 18. iii.
12. — In him all things respecting God delightfully harmo¬
nize, — as perfections of mercy, justice, and wrath, the exercise of which seems inconsistent: — Names apparently irreconcileable, — as merciful and gracious, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, — and yet by no means clearing the guilty, Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7: — Words apparently contradictory, representing God’s detesting the justification of the wicked, — and yet representing his own justification of the ungodly, Exod. xxiii. 7. Prov. xvii. 15. Rom. iv. 6. Isa. xl iii. 24, 25. Xiv. 24, 25. 2 Cor. v. 21; - and works apparently contrary, as mak¬
ing men dead to the law, and yet writing the law in their hearts, Gal. ii. 19. Rom. vii. 4. viii. 2. Jer. xxxi. 33. Heb. viii. 10. 4. God is manifested in and through Christ.
All the words and works of God cannot give a full, clear, efficacious, saving, and satisfying view of God suitable to sinful men But Christ being of the same substance with him, and yet a distinct person in our nature, is infinitely fit to represent him to us. As Son of God, he is the brightness of his Father’s glory, and the express image of his person, Heb. i. 3. John xiv. 9, 10. As God-man mediator, he is the representative image of the invisible God, Col. i. 15. 2 Cor iv. 4, 6; — in and through which, the perfections of God shine forth w ith the most unsullied, amiable, heart-captivating and soul-trans¬ forming brightness. 1. Ilis spirituality, in framing a covenant, kingdom, and people, not of this world, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. John xviii. 36. 1 Pet. ii. 5. 2. His infinity, in devising and
executing an infinitely important plan of our redemption, and in cheerfully giving his infinite Son, an unspeakable gift, to be a ransom for us, and then to be an husband, effectual Saviour, and everlasting portion to us, 2 Cor. ix. 15. John iii. 16. 3. His eternity, in establishing a covenant with him, and an office in him, which reacheth from everlasting to everlasting, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. Prov. viii. 23. Psalm cx. 4. Isa. ix. 7. 4.
His immutability, in all his infallible purposes and providences, relative to Christ, in nothing altering his appearance or work, notwithstanding our innumerable provocations, — and in the everlasting union of our nature to his person, as a fixed pledge of our acceptance and happiness, Mai. iii. 6. Jer. iii. 5, 19. xxiii. 5, 6. xxxi. 3. xxxii. 40. Isa. liv. 8 — 10. 5. His independence, in personally uniting his own Son to manhood, and in that new form, rendering him dependent on himself as his created man and mediatorial servant, Jer. xxxi. 22. Isa. vii. 14. xlii. 1. Jer. xxiii. 5. xxxiii. 15. 6. His absolute sove¬
reignty, in giving his only-begotten Son to be Mediator and Surety for hell-deserving sinners; and for men, not for fallen angels; — and for some men, not for others as good and valuable in themselves, and no less necessitous, Psalm lxxxix. 19, 20. Heb. ix. 14, 16. 1 Cor. i. 26. Mat. xi. 25, 26. xx. 15. 7. His
subsistence in three persons, — plainly marked in Christ’s mission, Isa. xlviii. 16; his unction, Isa. lxi. 1; his baptism, Mat. iii. 16, 17; his death, Heb. ix. 14; his resurrection, Rom. viii. 11. i. 3, 4; his intercession, John xiv. 16, 17, 26; and his application of his purchased redemption to us, John xv. 26. xvi. 7 — 15. 1 Pet. i. 2. 8. His divine life, in bestowing such ful¬
ness of spiritual and eternal life on Christ, for the quickening, the comfort and everlasting happiness and glory of men dead in trespasses and sins, John v. 25. xi. 25. Rom. viii. 2. Eph. ii. 1 — 10. 9. His infinite wisdom and knowledge, in find¬ ing a proper person for the infinitely arduous work of our redemption, in bringing him into the world in the most proper time, place, and manner, and endowed with the most proper furniture; and through him bringing the greatest glory to God, and good to men, out of the worst of evils; in punishing sin, and saving sinners; in making Satan’s completelike victory the occasion of his complicated ruin; and in rendering Christ wisdom to the most foolish and ignorant. 10, His infinite power, in uniting Christ’s natures in one person, and our persons to him; in inflicting most tremendous punishments upon him, and supporting him under them, and even making his manhood flourish in holiness under the press¬ ure of fan infinite wrath and curse. In rendering him an over¬ comer by sufferings and death; in raising him from the dead, and bestowing upon him a super-exceeding and eternal weight of glory, — and in justifying, preserving, comforting, and glorifying his people; through him, 1 Cor. i. 24. 11. His infi-OF THE MEDIATORIAL PERSON OF CHRIST.
nite holiness, in the inconceivable purity of Christ’s human nature, even under the curse, Luke i. 35; in hiding himself from him on account of sin not inherent in him or committed by him, but merely imputed to him, Matth. xxvii. 4G; and in his slaying him, his beloved Son, in order that he might destroy sin, Dan. ix. 24. 1 John iii. 5, 8. 12. II is infinite justice, in
his relentless execution of all the vengeance due to our sins, upon his only-begotten and well-beloved Son, and in reward¬ ing his most guilty representees with everlasting grace and glory, on his account, Rom. viii. 32. iii. 24 — 26. Isa. liii. 10, 11. 1 John iv. 9, 10, 19. i. 9. Rom. v. 21. vi. 23. 13. His
infallible truth, in fulfilling the most important and difficult-like promises and threatenings, in the constitution of his per¬ son, and in his work of satisfying for and saving men, 2 Cor.
1. 20. Gen. iii. 15. ii. 17. 1 Thess. v. 18. 1 Pet. iii. 18. 14.
His infinite majesty, greatness, and authority, in sending, commanding, punishing, and rewarding his own infinite equal, in our nature, Isa. xlii. 6. xlviii. 16. Matth. iii. 15. John x. 18. xiv. 31.! Phil. ii. 6 — 11. Zech. xiii. 7. Isa. lvii. 10 — 12. Eph. i. 20 — 23. 15. And chiefly his infinite grace, mercy, goodness, and love, John iii. 16. 1 John i. 8, 9, 10, 16, 19.
II. God’s purposes, and the execution thereof in his works,
are deeply connected with Christ. His person, God-man, is, 3. The foundation of them, Col. i. 17. 2. The centre, in
which they all delightfully meet, Eph. i. 10. 3. The glory
of them, the union of his two natures being the principal contrivance and work of God, Jer. xxxi. 22. 1 Tim. iii. 16. 4i The grand mean of accomplishing the purposes and effect¬ ing the great works of God, Heb. xi. 3. i. 2, 3. Isa. xlix. 8.
5. The grand scope and end of them, in connection with the glory of God and the salvation of men, Rev. v. 11 — 13.
6. The great attractive of God’s heart to his purposes and works, that makes him rest and rejoice in them with inexpressible pleasure and delight, Psalm civ. 31. Zeph. iii. 17.
III. With respect to the revealed truths of God, Christ in
3iis person and offices is, 1. The fountain, whence they proceed to us, John i. 18. Rev. i. 1. 2 8am. xxiii. 3. Mat. v. — vii. John iii. 3, 5. Rom. i. 16. 2. Th e foundation of them, John xiv. 6.
Isa. xxviii. 16. 1 Cor. iii. 11. 3. The matter of them, when
taken in their full connection, 1 Tim. iii. 16. 1 Cor. i 24. ii.
2, 6, 7. Col. i. 25 — 27. iii. 11. John xiv. 6. 4. Their reposi¬
tory, in which they are safely, honourably, and mysteriously laid up, John i. 14. Col. ii. 3. Isa. xi. 2. lxi. 1. Eph. iv. 20, 21. 2 Cor. i. 20. 5. Their centre, in which ail their lines orderly
meet, Acts x. 43. Rom. x. 4, iii. 21, 22. 1 Cor. i. 20. Luke xxii.
20. xxiv. 27, 45. John i. 45. Acts xxvi. 22, 23. 1 Cor. xv. 1, 3, 4. 1 Tim. iii. 16. 6. The great Teacher and Interpreter of
them, Mai. iii. 1. Isa. xlviii. 17. 1. 4. liv. 13. Job xxxiii. 23. Horn. xv. 8. Song ii. 9 — 15. 1 John v. 20. Luke xxiv. 27, 45. Mic. iv. 2. v. 4. 7. The witness and even the attestation of
them, Rev. i. 5. iii. 14. Isa. lv. 4. John iii. 3, 5. Psalm 1. 7. Ezek. xxxiii. 11. Heb. vi. 16 — 18. 2 Cor. i. 20. 8. The exemplification of them in all their leading articles relative to God or men, — sin or misery, — holiness or happiness, — law or gospel, Eph. iv. 20, 21. 9. The light and glory of them, Gal. i. 16.
2 Cor. iii. 8, 14, 16, 18. iv. 3, 4, 6. 10. The life, power, and
^fficacy of them. All the perfections, purposes, and agency of God for rendering them effectual, are in him. And, known separately from .him, they are undervalued, deserted, perverted, dead, and ineffectual, — nay, a savour of death unto death, — a killing letter, — the ministration of death, 2 Cor. ii. 16. iii. 6, 7; but connected with him they are quick and powerful, Heb. iv. 12. Rom. iv. 17. John v. 25. vi. 63. xi. 25. Rom. viii. 2. Psalm cxix. 50. 11. The application of them to men’s hearts depends
upon his application of his person. No truth can be rightly perceived, till he be spiritually discerned. No truth can be received in the love of it, till he be embraced. We can have no comfortable interest in divine truths, till we be interested in him. No saving virtue of truth can be felt, till we experience his self-uniting touch, Rom. vii. 9. viii. 2. But, in his entrance into our soul, divine truths are applied, never more to be taken from us, Isa. liv. 13. Gal. i. 16. 2 Tim. iii. 15. 2 Cor. i. 24. Eph. v. 8. iv. 24. 2 Cor. iii. 3, 18. Eph. i. 18, 19. iii. 16 — 19. Jer. xxxi. 32 — 34. Psalm cxix. 11. Jer. xv.. 16.
IV. Nor are the covenants of God less connected with Christ God-man. These particular ones which God made with Noah, Abraham, Phinehas, David, Israel, were framed to represent that which he made with Christ and his people in him, Gen. ix. xvii. xxii. Num. xxv. 2 Sam. vii. Exod, xix. 5, 6. xxiv. Deut. v. 2 xxix. — Christ in his person and work was the real, though at first unseen end of God’s making the covenant of works with Adam, and the full vindication of his making it with a representative, Rom. v. 12 — 21. 2 Cor. xv. 21, 22, 45 — 49. He is the fiddlier and magnifier of it in the room of his elect, Rom. x. 4. viii. 3, 4. Isa. xlii. 1, 21. liii. 4, 5, 6, 10. And he thus renders it harmless, useful, and pleasant to fallen men, Rom. viii. 1 — 4. vii. 5. Gal. ii. 19 — 21. iii. 24. — Christ is the Contractor, Mediator, Surety, Sacrificing Priest, Condition-fulfiller, Administrator, Trustee, Testator, Executor, Advocate,. Prophet, and King, in, or of, the covenant of grace, Isa. xlii, 6. xlix. 6. Psalm lxxxix. 3. Heb. ix. 15. vii. 22. x. 10, 14.
Rom. v. 16 — 21. John xvii. 2. Psalm lxviii. 18. Heb. ix. 16. Isa. lv. 4. xlix. 8, 9. 1 John ii. 1. Acts iii. 22. Psalm ii. 6. All the blessings of it are in, and only obtained in union with his person, as election, Eph. i. 3, 4. the Spirit, Rom. viii. 2. Tit. iii. 6. justification, Isa. xlv. 24, 25. new covenant interest in God, 2 Cor. v. 19. Gal. iii. 20. John xx. 17. Rom. viii. 17. regeneration and sanctification, Eph. ii. 10. 2 Cor. v. 17. Gal. vi. 15. 1 Cor. i. 30. vi. II. spiritual comfort, John xvi. 33. Luke
11. 25. perseverance in grace, Jude 1. Gal. ii. 20. Col. iii. 3. an happy death, Rev. xiv. 13. 1 Thess. iv. 14, 16. and eternal glory, Isa. xlv. 17. lx. 19. — He is the cause, substance, and end of all these benefits. Election is but a separation from others to eternal life, in Christ as our root, With him as our companion and head, — through him as the mean, and on him as our nourishment, Eph. i. 4. Redemption is Christ and all his righteousness and purchased fulness received by us for our deliverance and happiness, Eph. i 3, 8. Col. i. 14. Rev. v. 9. — Justification is Christ accounted to us by God, that through his holiness, obedience, and suffering, we may be freed from condemnation, accepted into favour, and entitled to eternal life, Isa. xlv. 24, 25. 2 Cor. v. 21. Rom v. 15 — 21. Adoption is a being instated together with, and in Christ, and in his right, into the family of God, as heirs of every thing happy or honourable, John i.
12. Rom. viii. 17, 29. Regeneration and sanctification are his purchased image, produced in us by his manifesting himself to us, entering into, and dwelling in us by his Spirit, Gal. i. 16. 2 Cor. iii. 18. Eph. iii. 17 — 19. iv. 12 — 16. Col. ii. 6, 7, 19. Gal. ii. 20. Consolation is the delightful apprehensions and tastes of Christ and his fulness secured through, and in him, to our soul, 2 Cor. ii. 14. Gal. vi. 14. Phil. iii. 3. iv. 4. Psalm cxlix. 2. Luke i. 47. Christ as the infinite price of our eternal life, and as our unceasing Intercessor, and as living in, and caring for us, makes us to persevere in grace, Rom. v. 2L John xiv. 19. Col. iii. 3. Eternal life is purchased by Christ’s death, procured by his intercession, prepared by his grace, pledged by the enjoyment of him on earth, and consists in nearness to, heart attracting and assimilating views of his glory, and enjoy¬ ment of him as God-man, and of God in him, Rev v. 9. IIos. xiii. 14. Heb. vi. 20. vii. 25. John xiv. 2, 3, 6. xvii. 21, 24. x. 7, 9. 2 Cor. iii. 18; Phil. iv. 19. Psalm xvii. 15. xvi. 11. lxxiii. 24, 26. Isa. xxxv. 10. lx. 19, 20. — The dispensation of this covenant in word and ordinances, and by the Ploly Ghost, is the institution of Christ, in which he himself is exhibited and applied to men, 2 Cor. i. 20. 1 Cor. i. 23, 24. ii. 2. Rom. x. 4. i. 16, 17. viii. 2. — Christ God-man is the Founder, the Foundation, the Apostle, Plead, Governor, and Proprietor of the new-cotenant society, the church; and the Spiritual P’ather, Husband, and life of all her true members, Mattb. xvi. 18. Heb. iii. 1. Epb. ii. 10, 20. iv. 11, 12. Isa. ix. 6. liv. 5. Gal. ii. 20. Col. iii. 1, 3, 4. ’
V. All the fellowship of believers with God is in and through the person of Christ God-man. Through him we have fellow¬ ship with the Father in his love, as the mean and centre of it. Through him the Father vents his preventing, free, infinite, distinguishing, and everlasting love to us. And through him we believe it, and return it, in consequential, grateful, superlative, and fruitful love to him. Ard through him our faith and love are acceptable to, and accepted bj the Father, T John iv. 8 -10, 16, 19. 1 Cor. xv. 58. Heb. vi. 10. xii. 28. Our fellowship with the Son, in his giving himself to us, and ouf choosing and accepting him for our Husband, Saviour, and Lord; — in his exercise of esteem, delight, compassion, and bounty towards us, — and our exercise of esteem, delight, chaste affection, and cheerful obedience towards him; — and our fellow¬ ship with him in his righteousness as the price of our salvation, in his intercession as the procuring cause, — and in their blessed effects of justification, adoption, liberty and boldness toward God, — chastisement for sin, — sanctification, spiritual comfort, — and right to everlasting happiness, depends on our union to, and beholding.and enjoying his person God-man. Our fellow¬ ship with the Holy Ghost depends on it. He as the Spirit of Christ, sent by and lodged in him, w’orks in his ordinances, enlightens, excites, and opens our hearts, manifests and conveys Christ and his fulness into it; — dwells in us, and sheds abroad the love of God in our hearts, witnesses with our spirits, seals us up to the dav of redemption, and by his sanctifying and comforting influence is the earnest of our eternal inheritance; — in all which work, be leadeth us to the person of Christ, as made of God to us wisdom, righteousness, sanetifieation, and redemption. And it is from Christ living in us, and regarded by us, that we carefully avoid grieving, vexing, resisting, and quenching the Holy Ghost, and complying with, and cherish, his influences, and esteem, ex’pect, and prepare for, his benefits and comforts, John xvi. 7 — 15. liom. viii. Epb. iv. 20 — 30. Gal. v. 18 — 26.’
VI. The gracious qualities of believers, and exercise thereof, are connected with Christ’s person. His righteousness as the righteousness of God-man, purchased their new nature in all its diversified graces, Tit. ii. 14. Heb. xiii. 12 ix. 12, 14. x. 10, 14. All the grace implanted in their heart is originally in him, and through him conveyed to them, John i. 14, 16: Col. i. Iff. ii. 3, 19. iii. 11. His uniting of himself to them as their justified and quickening Head, is the foundation and cause of the
Renovation of their nature after the image of God, Gal. iv. 19. vi. 15. Eph. ii. 10. 2 Cor. v. 17. 1 Cor. iv. 15. The actuating their inward graces proceeds from his dwelling in their heart by faith as the resurrection and the life, Eph. iii. 17. Gal. ii. 20. Col. ii. 19. Eph. iv. 16. All these graces have him, in some respect, for their object, John xvii. 3. Heb. xii. 2. Zech. xii. 10.
1 Cor. xvi. 22. And only in, and through him are they and their acts accepted by God, Eph. i. 6. Horn. xii. 1. 1 Pet. ii. 5.
2 Cor. v. 9, 19. More particularly, 1. All true spiritual knowledge hath him for its fountain, mean, and summary object, 1 Cor. ii. 2. Phil. iii. 8. All saving knowl’ge of God is obtained only through him. Sot divine perfections, as pardoning mercy, &c. appear only in him, 2 Cor. v. 19; other divine perfections, as wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth, cannot be clearly and comfortably perceived, as manifested, and to be for ever manifested in promoting our happiness, who are sinful men, but in
him, 2 Cor. v. 19. Gen. xv. 1. Heb. vii. 25. Phil. iv. 19. - All
saving knowledge of sin «is to be had only in and through his person. In him we perceive God’s end in permitting sin to enter and abound in the world, Rom. v. 20, 21. In his extra¬ ordinary conception, we perceive the conveyance of sinful corruption- from Adam to his posterity, Luke i. 35. Psalm li. 5.
Job xiv. 4. John iii. 6. - In his mediatorial mission and
quickening virtue, we perceive our utter inability to recover ourselves, or perform any thing spiritually good, Rom. viii. 2, 3. vii. 8. v. 6 — 8. Mic. vi. 6 — 8. In his death we perceive the dreadful nature, due desert, and necessary punishment of sin, and the true method of destroying it, by a believing application
of his death and resurrection, Rom. vi. 3, 4, 14. vii. 4. - All
saving knowledge of righteousness is had in and through him. In viewing his person God-man, made under the law, and fulfilling his surety-engagements, we perceive the righteousness demanded by God’s law from us; and that it cannot be abated. Gal. iv. 4, 5. Rom. viii. 3, 4. Mat. iii. 15. Luke xxiv. 26. Heb. ii. 9, 10. v. 8. 2 Cor. v. 21; and that in him alone is a law-magnifying righteousness for us, Isa. xlv. 24, 25. xlvi. 12, 13. 1 iii. 4, 5, 11. liv. 17. lxi. 10. xlii. 21. Jer. xxiii. 6. xxxiii. 16. — All saving knowledge of judgment is only in and through him. In his death we have an awful proof of its certainty, justness, and tremendous nature: In it we perceive the safety of his friends, and the inevitable destruction of his implacable enemies. In his victory over Satan, we foresee the eternal ruin of his
followers and interests. - If Christ be revealed in us, we know
all that is necessary, all that is worthy to be known, in order to our eternal salvation, Gal. i. 16. I Cor. ii. 2. Mat, xi. 25. John xvii. 3. 1 John v. 20. Luke xxiv. 45. Phil. iii. 8. 1 Thess. iv. 9. Jer. xxxi. 33. We are directed to choose the best porlion, Lam. iii. 24. Psalm xxvii. 4. cxlii. 4, 5. xci. 2. cxix. 57. and the best way, Psalm cxix. 30. Col. ii. 0. Phil. iii. 8, 9; and to prosecute our choice in the best manner, Eph. vi. 10. 2 Tim. ii. 1. Phil. iv. 8, 13. Zech. x. 12. Mic. iv. 5. Psalm xxvii. 4. lxxi. 14 — 18. Phil. iii. 3, 7 — 15, 20. Col. iii. 17. Gal. ii. 20. vi. 14. 2 Cor. v. 7. Heb.ixi. — and to the best ends, Phil. i. 20, 21, 23. 1 Pet. iv. 11. 1 Cor. x. 31. vi. 19, 20. Isa. xliii. 21. 1 Pet. ii. 9. 2. All the exercise of true faith is closely connected
with his person God-man. By faith we believe God’s declarations as manifested in him, Psalm ix. 10. 2 Cor. iv. 4, 0. In thus embracing them, we look to, receive, and cleave to him, Isa. xlv. 22. John i. 12. Acts xi. 23. By faith we receive his righteousness, as fulfilled by, and lodged in his person, Isa. xiv. 24. 2 Cor. v. 21. By faith we, through his word, as in him, live on his person, and extract all necessary supplies of life, strength, and holiness, and comfort, from it. Gal. ii. 20. Phil, iv. 13, 19. 2 Tim. ii. 1. 1 Cor. xvi. 13. 1 Pet. i. 8. v. 9. By faith we present our persons, nature, services, necessities, plagues, and burdens to God, only through his person and mediation, Heb. iv. 14 — 16. x. 19 — 24. His person and fulness are all in all to faith; and hence perhaps he is called by its
name, Gal. iii. 23, 25. - His manhood is the object of faith,
only in so far as his invisible Godhead is connected with, and manifested in, its conception, assumption, union, fulness, and work, John i. 14. 1 Tim. iii. 16. 2 Cor. iii. 18. iv. 4, 6. 3. All
saving hope hath Christ’s person in his death, and the perfections of God as glorified in him, and the promises of the new covenant as ratified in his blood, for its foundation, 1 Tim. i. 1. Col. i. 27. Psalm cxix. 81. — Dwelling in us, he is the actuator of it, the pledge and earnest of our full enjoyment of that which we expect, Col. i. 27. He, in his person and fulness, and all the fulness of God in him, to be immediately and eternally enjoyed in heaven, is the consummate object of our hope, 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18. 1 John iii. 2, 3. Psalm xvii. 15; and hence he is called our hope, 1 Tim. i. 1. Col. i. 27. Jer. xiv. 8. xvii. 7. 4. All true love to God or men is formed in us, and drawn out by believing views of his person, Gal. v. 6. He is loved as God-man, and God is loved in him, John i. 14. 1 Pet. i. 8. 1 John iv. 9, 10, 16, 19. Graces, comforts, scriptures, ordinances, truths and saints, are loved as connected with, and con* formed to him, 2 Pet. i. 3 — 8. Psal. cxix. lxxxiv. xxvi. 8. cxix. 63. xvi. 3. 5. All true gospel-repentance is produced by be¬
lieving views of his person God-man allied to, and suffering for us, as at once the greatest demonstration of the evil of sin, and of God’s love to us sinners, Zech. xii. 10. — In him God is apprehended as merciful and gracious, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; and so as one to whom we may with safety and ease turn from sin, 2 Cor. v. 19. Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. Hos. xiv. 1, 4. His righteousness is that of God in our nature, surety for us, being imputed to us, frees us from the broken law and its curse, and so breaks the power of sin in us, and enables us to draw near to God as a pacified Father, Friend, and Master, 2 Cor. v. 14, 15, 19, 20. Heb, x, 19 — 22. Isa. xliv. 22. Jer. iii. 1, 4, 14, 22. Hos. xiv. 1, 4.
VII. All the saints’ true and acceptable worship of God is closely connected with the person of Christ God-man. His per¬ son simply as God is the proper object of it. His divine nature is the formal reason of it, Psalm xiv. 11. ii 12. John v. 23. Isa. xlii. 8. Gal. iv. 8. His manhood and mediation are the great motives to, and means of it, Eph. ii. 18. iii. 12. His righteousness and intercession render it accepted, 1 Pet. ii. 5. Rev. viii. 3, 4. And it affords them no small encouragement in their troubles, wants, weakness, and dying moments, that they have a God in their nature to call and depend on, 2 Cor. xii. 7, 8. Rev. v. 3, 4, 6. Isa. lxiii. 9. Luke xvii. 5, 2 Thess. ii, 16, 17. Acts vii. 56 — 59.
VIII. All the new obedience of believers, as it is a walking with God, is closely connected wfith the person of Christ God-man, Christ himself and his Father’s laws and ordinances, as in, and from him, are our way, John xiv. 6. Col. ii. 6. Heb. x. 20. Isa. xxxv. 8. Psalm exist. 1, 30. Hos. xiv. 9. All the agree¬ ment between God and us, necessary to our walking with him, is made and maintained only in and by Christ, Amos iii. 3. Dan. ix. 24. Col. ii. 14. 2 Cor. v. 19, 20. Rom. v. 10. Col. i. 20. Eph. i. 10. All the motives enforcing this walk, drawn from the love of God, and his promised favours, are only in Christ, 1 John iv. 9, 10, 16, 19. 1 Cor. xv. 58. All the knowledge and wisdom necessary for promoting it are in him, John v. 37. i. 18. xvii. 3. 1 John v. 20. 1 Cor. i. 30. Jer. xxxi. 33, 34. All strength necessary for it is in him, Isa. xl 29- — 31. Zech. x. 12. John xv. 5. Phil. iv. 13, 2 Tim. i. 1. Eph. vi. 10. All the confidence necessary to it is obtained in and through him, Heb. x. 19 — 22. iv. 14 — 16. Psalm xxvii. 1 — 3. cxviii. 6 — 17. All harmony of design with God, as our leader and companion, is obtained only in Christ; and all the acceptablei?ess of God’s presence and conduct to us, and of ours to him, Col. iii. 17. Rom. vii 25. Isa. xliii. 21. 1 Cor. vi. 20. x. 31. 1 Pet. ii. 5, 9. iv. 11. Rom. xii. 1. — Even in all our relative duties, we must have Christ’s person in us for their fountain, — Christ in his love for our pattern and motive, — Christ in his authority for our reason and rule, — and Christ in his honour for our end, Rom. xvi. 2, 3, 7 — 13. 2 Cor. x. 1. Eph. v. 2, 22, 24, 25, 29. iv. 32. vi. 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9. Phil. ii. 1 — 5. C9I. iii. 16, 18, 20, 23, 24. iv. 1, 17.
Reflect. Have I seen and believed on tins all-lovely, alluseful, Lord Jesus Christ P Hath it pleased God to reveal his Son in me? Have I by faith beheld this great mystery of godliness, this new thing created in the earth, — God made manifest in the flesh? Have I turned aside to see this great sight, the bush burning and not consumed? Have I beheld the glory of the Word made flesh, and dwelling among men, — dwelling in me, — as the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth? Have I, in this image of the invisible God, beheld the Father also? Have I seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ? — What think I of Christ? Whose Son? Whose Saviour is he? — What is he to me? — Is he white and ruddy, the chief among ten thousand? — Is he altogether lovely, and my Beloved and my Friend? — Beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, Am I changed from glory to glory, even as
by the Spirit of the Lord? - -What would I have Christ to be
to me, — to do for and to me? - My soul, I charge thee be¬
fore God, never dare to preach a single sermon till thou hast cordially perused this truly divine system, Jesus Christ, as made of God to me wisdom! — O the transcend ently excellent thoughts, — devices, — and inventions that are here! — how God might pardon sinful men, and put them among his children! — how he might have mercy on his inveterate enemies, the rebellious revolters from his righteous government! — how Grace might much more abound, and reign through righteousness to eternal life! — how mercy and truth might meet together, righteousness and peace kiss each other! — how the prey might be taken from the mighty, and the lawful captive be delivered!
- Thoughts! — how many! — how condescending! — how deep!
—how high! — how gracious! — how fixed! — how efficacious! —
how delightful! — how precious !-; - To convey them into my
heart, Into what new form of person, offices, and relations is the eternal Son of God, as it were, cast and moulded! — What new, — what stupendous manifestations of the manifold wisdom and knowledge of God ensue! — What mysteries of godliness, — mysteries of the -kingdom! — What lectures concerning Jehovah and his gracious connections with sinful men, — with sinful me!
- - What things were gain to me, these I therefore count
loss for Christ: yea, doubtless, I count all things but loss for the excellency of the lcnowd edge of Christ Jesus my Lord and I do count them but dung to win him, and to be found in him. All the heaven I wish below is but to taste his love: and all the heaven I wish above is but to see his face. Ob! for that eternity, — that eternity, when Christ God-man shall be my Teacher! — Christ shall be any system! — Christ shall be my Bible! — Christ shall be my all in all!