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glory which thou hast given me.' All which several postulata, are no doubt grounded upon the fore-cited promises, which by his Father were made unto him: and in this not one word concerning all and every one, but expressly the contrary; John xvii. 9. Let this then be diligently observed, that the promise of God unto his Son, and the request of the Son unto his Father, are directed to this peculiar end of bringing sons unto God. And this is the first act, consisting of these three particulars.

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The second is of laying upon him the punishment of sins, every where ascribed unto the Father. Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd, against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts; smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered;' Zech. xiii. 7. What here is set down imperatively by way of command, is in the gospel indicatively expounded; 'I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad;' Matt. xxvi. 31. He was stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted;' yea,' the Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us all;' yea, 'it pleased the Lord to bruise him and to put him to grief;' Isa. liii. 4. 6. 10. · He made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him;' 2 Cor. v. 21. The adjunct in both places is put for the subject, as the opposition between his being made sin, and our being made righteousness declareth. Him who knew no sin,' that is, who deserved no punishment; him hath he made to be sin,' or laid the punishment due to sin upon him; or perhaps in the latter place, sin may be taken for an offering or sacrifice for the expiation of sin, auapría, answering in this place to the word лn in the Old Testament, which signifieth both sin and the sacrifice for it. And this the Lord did; for as for Herod, Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, when they were gathered together they did nothing but what his hand and counsel had determined before to be done;' Acts iv. 27, 28. Whence the great shakings of our Saviour were in his close conflict with his Father's wrath, and that burden which by himself he immediately imposed on him, when there was no hand or instrument outwardly appearing to put him to any suffering or cruciating torment; then began he to be sorrowful, even unto death;' Matt. xxvi. 37, 38. to wit, when he was in the garden with his

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three choice apostles, before the traitor or any of his accomplices appeared; 'then was he sore amazed and very heavy ;' Mark xiv. 34. that was the time in the days of his flesh, when he offered up prayers and supplications with strong cries and tears unto him that was able to save him from death; Heb. v. 7. Which how he performed the apostle describeth, Luke xxii. 43, 44. There appeared an angel unto him from heaven strengthening him; but being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.' Surely it was a close and strong trial, and that immediately from his Father, he now underwent; for how meekly and cheerfully doth he submit without any regret or trouble of spirit to all the cruelty of men, and violence offered to his body, until this conflict being renewed again, he cries,' My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' And this, by the way, will be worth our observation, that we may know with whom our Saviour chiefly had to do, and what was that which he underwent for sinners, which also will give some light to the grand query concerning the persons of them for whom he undertook all this. His sufferings were far from consisting in mere corporal perpessions and afflictions, with such impressions upon his soul and spirit, as were the effects and issues only of them; it was no more nor less than the curse of the law of God, which he underwent for us; for he freed us from the curse by being made a curse;' Gal. iii. 13. which contained all the punishment that was due to sin, either in the severity of God's justice, or according to the exigence of that law which required obedience. That the execration of the law should be only temporal death, as the law was considered to be the instrument of the Jewish polity, and serving that economy or dispensation, is true; but that it should be no more, as it is the universal rule of obedience and the bond of the covenant between God and man, is a foolish dream. Nay, but in dying for us Christ did not only aim at our good, but also directly died in our stead; the punishment due to our sin and the chastisement of our peace was upon him which that it was the pains of hell in their nature and being, in their weight and pressure, though not in tendence and continuance (it being impossible that he should be detained by death), who can deny, and not be injurious to the

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justice of God, which will inevitably inflict those pains to eternity upon sinners; it is true, indeed, there is a relaxation of the law in respect of the persons suffering, God admitting of commutation; as in the old law when in their sacrifices the life of the beast was accepted (in respect to the carnal part of the ordinances) for the life of the man; this is fully revealed and we believe it; but for any change of the punishment, in respect of the nature of it, where is the least intimation of any alteration? We conclude then, this second act of God, in laying the punishment on him for us, with that of the prophet; All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all;' Isa. liii. 6. And add thereunto this observation, that it seems strange to me that Christ should undergo the pains of hell in their stead, who lay in the pains of hell before he underwent those pains, and shall continue in them to eternity, for their worm dieth not, neither is their fire quenched.' To which I may add this dilemma to our universalists: God imposed his wrath due unto, and Christ underwent the pains of hell for, either all the sins of all men, or all the sins of some men, or some sins of all men. If the last, some sins of all men, then have all men some sins to answer for, and so shall no man be saved; for if God enter into judgment with us,' though it were with all mankind for one sin, no flesh should be justified in his sight: if the Lord should mark iniquities who should stand?' Psal. cxxx. 3. We might all go to cast all that we have, to the moles and to the bats, to go into the clefts of the rocks, and to the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty;' Isa. ii. 20, 21. If the second, that is it which we affirm, that Christ in their stead and room suffered for all the sins of all the elect in the world. If the first, why then are not all freed from the punishment of all their sins? You will say, because of their unbelief, they will not believe: but this unbelief, is it a sin or not? If not, why should they be punished for it? If it be, then Christ underwent the punishment due to it, or not: if so, then why must that hinder them more than their other sins for which he died, from partaking of the fruit of his death; if he did not, then did he not die for all their sins. Let them choose which part they will.

CHAP. IV.

Of those things, which in the work of redemption are peculiarly ascribed to the person of the Son.

SECONDLY, The Son was an agent in this great work, concurring by a voluntary susception, or willing undertaking, of the office imposed on him; for when the Lord said, ́ Sacrifice and offerings he would not, in burnt-offerings and sacrifice for sin he had no pleasure; then said Christ, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God; Heb. x. 17, 18. All other ways being rejected or insufficient, Christ undertaketh the task, in whom alone the Father was well pleased;' Matt. iii. 13. Hence he professeth that he came not to do his own will, but the will of him that sent him;' John vi. 38. Yea, that it was 'his meat and drink to do his Father's will, and to finish his work;' John iv. 34. The first words that we find recorded of him in the Scripture are to the same purpose,' Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business;' Luke ii. 49. And at the close of all he saith, 'I have glorified thee on earth; I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do;' John xvii. 4. calling it every where his Father's work that he did, or his Father's will which he came to accomplish, with reference to the imposition which we before treated of. Now this undertaking of the Son may be referred to three heads: the first being a common foundation for both the other, being as it were, the means in respect of them as the end; and yet in some sort partaking of the nature of a distinct action, with a goodness in itself in reference to the main end proposed to all three; we shall consider it apart and that is,

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First, His incarnation, as usually it is called, for his taking of flesh and pitching his tent amongst us; John i. 4. His 'being made of a woman,' Gal. iv. 4. is usually called his voápkwotę or incarnation; for this was the mystery of godliness, that God should be manifested in the flesh;' 1 Tim. iii. 13. thereby assuming not any singular person but our human nature into personal union with himself; for, forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he

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might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; Heb. ii. 14. it was the children that he considered, the children whom the Lord gave him;' ver. 13. Their participation in flesh and blood moved him to partake of the same; not because all the world, all the posterity of Adam, but because the children were in that condition, for their sakes he sanctified himself. Now this emptying of the Deity, this humbling of himself, this dwelling amongst us, was the sole act of the second person, or the divine nature in the second person, the Father and the Spirit having no concurrence in it, but by liking, approbation, and eternal counsel.

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Secondly, His oblation or offering himself up to God for us 'without spot, to purge our consciences from dead works;' Heb. ix. 14. for he loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood;' Rev. i. 5. he loved his church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it;' Eph. v. 25, 26. taking the cup of wrath at his Father's hands, due to us, and drinking it off, but not for himself;' Dan. ix. 6. for, for our sakes' he sanctified himself;' John xvii. 19. that is, to be an offering, an oblation for sin; for 'when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly; Rom. v. 6. This being that which was typified out by all the institutions, ordinances, and sacrifices of old; which when they were to have an end, then said Christ, Lo, I come, to do thy will.' Now though the perfecting or consummating of this oblation, be set out in the Scripture chiefly in respect of what Christ suffered, and not so much in respect of what he did, because it is chiefly considered as the means used by these three blessed agents, for the attaining of a farther end, yet in respect of his own voluntary giving up himself, to be so an oblation and a sacrifice, without which it would not have been of any value (for if the will of Christ had not been in it, it could never have purged our sins), therefore in that regard, I refer it to his actions. He was the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world;' John i. 29. the Lamb of God, which himself had provided for a sacrifice. And how did this Lamb behave himself in it? with unwillingness and struggling? No, he opened not his mouth; 'he was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before the shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth;' Isa. liii. 7. Whence he saith, 'I lay down

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