ment have I received of my Father.' So as whatever he loseth in suffering for us shall be his own, he will not borrow anything to suffer with, but all he offers is his own, as it must be, if it be a mediating death. He was able to offer up himself, and so be his own sacrifice, altar, and priest; he borrowed nothing; and this all at once; and this no creature could do.

1. He being God, was able to be his own priest, and in dying offered up himself to God, and needed no other priest: so Heb. ix. 14, through his eternal Spirit he offered up himself.' Yea, and

2. He finds a sacrifice also, which was in a true respect his own, a respect wherein it was not God's, himself offering up his body, Heb. x. 10, and pouring forth his soul an offering for sin, Isa. liii. 10. And,

3. He is the altar himself: Heb. xiii. 10, We have an altar whereof they have no right to eat, which serve the tabernacle.' And so he offers all upon his own cost, and borrows nothing.

Thirdly, Now in the last place, let us take a brief survey of all those inseparable inconveniences (mentioned in the first part of this discourse) which we found to attend upon and clog the passive obedience of all mere creatures, if they should presume to undertake it, and you shall see them all to melt away, and come to nothing before his fulness. As,

First, The creatures would very hardly have so much as dared to die and undergo it for us: Rom. v. 7, ' For a good man peradventure one would dare die' Jer. xxx. 21, Who hath engaged his heart,' says God, to draw nigh unto me?' No creature durst do it, but only, this one that shall come out of the midst of you' (as there); he shall draw near to me.' He durst encounter with his Father's wrath; he hath the hardiness to encounter with it, and to bear it and not be broken. The wrath of God it broke the backs of angels, but, Isa. xlii. 14, My servant,' says he, whom I uphold, shall not be broken.' Again,

Secondly, Will he be overcome with it, or always satisfying? No; whereas if any of the creatures had had the boldness to undertake it, yet they must have been always satisfying, and so we should never have come to have our bond out; but Christ will bear it, so as to come at last to say, 'It is finished,' as he did say at his death. He that was to be our mediator, was to rise again as a conqueror over death, to overcome hell, God's wrath, and not lie wrestling under them to eternity; for if he had lain by it, and had been kept in prison, so long the debt had not been paid. If ever therefore he will justify us by his death, he must overcome and rise again, else we should still be in our sins, as 1 Cor. xv. 17, ' And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; you are yet in your sins.' And this no creature could ever do, God's wrath would have held him tugging work to eternity, and they never have risen again from under it. He that overcomes that, must be as strong as God himself. Yea, and he must do this himself, by his own power too. It was not enough to be raised up, as Lazarus was, by the power of another; that will not serve to satisfy for a sinner. For that power that raised him, must first satisfy and overcome God's wrath, eluctate, and break open the prison doors. Now if another power than his own had done it, that party that helped him had been in part the mediator, and so not he. But Christ being God, he is able to do all this, and to do it by his own power. For,

1. Being God, he was backed with that power that was able to raise him up, and to loose the pains of death; yea, and it was impossible he should be held thereof, says Peter, Acts ii. 14. Those pains of death there mentioned were from the wrath of God, which would have stayed all the creatures

in the world for* ever rising; and the place implies that those pains would not have let him go till they were loosened and overcome; for if possible, they would have held him; but being he was God, it was not possible; but he takes hell-gates, like another Samson, and throws them off their hinges, carries them away, and swallows up death in victory.

2. He could raise himself up; Destroy this temple,' says he, John ii. 19, and I have power to raise it up,' I myself. The body could not raise itself, nor the soul have joined itself to that body; therefore if he had been but mere man, he could never have done it, but that Spirit, the eternal Godhead, could: 1 Peter iii. 18, 'He was put to death in the flesh,' that is, his human nature, but quickened in and by the Spirit,' that is, his Godhead united thereunto. And he will thus overcome, not by mere power, by force, but in a way of justice, so as justice itself shall willingly let him go free, as being itself first satisfied. Yea, he will overcome upon such terms that it shall be unjust to hold him any longer, unjust, and so impossible in that sense also; for he will in a few hours pay the whole debt, undergo the whole wrath due; that which the creatures' strength could endure but by drops (and therefore endures it ever), he will be able to bear at once, so as justice itself shall say, It is finished, and I am satisfied.

And further, when he hath despatched it, there will be time enough left, even an eternity of time, to reward him in, and to be glorified with the glory he had before the world was. This was another inconvenience attended the creatures' satisfaction, that it must always be a-satisfying, and so should never have been rewarded; which God would never put any creature to, for then he should require and accept the highest obedience from a creature whom he should never have time to reward for it. But Christ can so satisfy as there will be time enough to reward him in. Yea, and he needs but a little time to satisfy in, and then he will survive and live again to call for his reward: 'He shall prolong his days, and see his seed, and be satisfied,' Isa. liii. 11. And therefore in this text we read of a great name above every name,' which as a reward God gave him for his being obedient unto death, Phil. ii. 9. And,

3. Thirdly, Will his satisfaction serve but one sinner (as also I shewed would be the case if creatures had performed it; yea, God must have sacrificed as many innocent creatures as he meant to save sinners)? No; Christ's satisfaction will serve for worlds, Rom. v. 17, 18. He is able to bring in such abundance of righteousness as abounds to many.

4. And in the last place, to crown the conclusion of this discourse with an additional weight of glory, that is more than all that hath been spoken. What will there be but just enough in this his obedience to make satisfaction for sin, and procure peace for sinners? The creatures they could not have done so much. No! But his will not only satisfy and make peace, but also reconcile, make friends: Col. i. 20, And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.' His righteousness will not only pacify vengeance, but there is enough in it to bring us into favour with God. The worth and grace of his person is such, and he so beloved, as it makes us, though sinners, graciously accepted in his beloved, Eph. i. 6, brings us into a degree of favour infinitely greater than ever, and more lasting. He is the natural Son of God, the beloved in whom God's soul is well pleased; and his love being conveyed to us through him, it falls upon us with more strength and fervour than ever. And also *That is, from.'-ED..

this offering up himself was so sweet a smelling sacrifice to God (as Eph. v. 2), that although God expressed never so much anger against Christ as when he hung upon the cross, yet he was never so well pleased by him as then; nay, he was more pleased than he had been displeased with all the sins the creatures have or can commit. The damned spirits their punishment satisfies not; vengeance can never suck out blood enough; and yet if what they did could satisfy, it would never rise so high as to please God, never be of worth enough to bring them into favour again. But here when first vengeance had sucked its full, and falls off satisfied, then the favour of his person, the willingness of his obedience, purchaseth an overplus, a redundancy of merit, a surplusage of riches,' unsearchable riches,' Eph. iii. 8, not only able to pay our debts the first day (and that is the least part of the benefit by it), but enough besides to purchase heaven itself as a portion for us, the favour of God. Yea, as much there is of it as we can spend or take out in glory to eternity. God had large thoughts of great and glorious blessings to be bestowed upon his people, and the righteousness of Christ is as large in merit as God's heart in purposes, adequate thereto; therefore the apostle makes God's grace and Christ's righteousness of equal extent, so that what God intended to be bestowed, his righteousness hath purchased: Rom. v. 17-20, 'For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.' Ver. 18, 'Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.' Ver. 19, For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.' Ver. 20, Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.' Yea, the merit of this his obedience is so great, as it shall never be rewarded to the full; the saints shall not have to eternity the full worth of it out in glory.

BOOK IV.

Christ's willingness to the work of redemption from everlasting till
he accomplish it.

But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure; then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me) to do thy will, O God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein (which are offered by the law); then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.HEB. X. 3-10.

CHAPTER I.

That there are two things to be considered in the obedience which Christ performed, the will and the deed. That from all eternity he expressed his willingness, in his consent to undertake the work.

As in all our obedience there are two principal ingredients to the true and right constitution of it, the matter of the obedience itself, and the principle and fountain of it in us: whereof the one, the apostle calls the deed, the other, the will-which latter God accepts in us, oftentimes without, always more than, the deed or matter of obedience itself-even so in Christ's obedience, which is the pattern and measure of ours, there are these two eminent parts which complete it.

I. The obedience itself, and the worth and value of it, in that it is his, so great a person's.

II. The willingness, the readiness to undertake, and the heartiness to perform it. The dignity of the person gave the value, the merit to the obedience performed by him. But the will, the zeal in his performance, gains the acceptance, and hath besides a necessary influence into the worth of it, and the virtue and efficacy of it to sanctify us. All which you have in the text. The offering up the body of Jesus:' there is the matter. The obedience of him to death:' there is the will by which he offered it up: by which will.' As calling not only for a distinct, but a more eminent consideration, and both necessarily concurring to our sanctification and salvation; 'By which will we are sanctified.' Now the story of his willingness to redeem and save, or the will by which we are sanctified, is a story of four parts.

1. Of his actual consent and undertaking the work, made and given to his Father from everlasting.

2. The continuance of that his will to stand to it from everlasting, unto the time of his incarnation and conception.

3. The renewal of this consent when he came into the world.

4. The stedfast continuance of that will all along in the performance, from the cradle to the cross.

And 1. As to his voluntary undertaking it 'afore the world was.' In the handling and discovery of those transactions of God the Father with him about the work of redemption, I have spoken something of Christ's willingness and consent, as it was there necessary; for else I could not have set forth the issue and conclusion of that treaty made by the persons shewing themselves; yet so as I reserved enough to make it a distinct head, when I should come to Christ's part. And so I here begin with it; for it was then, as was said, left by God the Father with him, and did wholly lie upon him.

It was necessary that Christ's consent should be then given, even from everlasting, and that as God made a promise to him for us, so that he should give consent again unto God. Yea; and indeed it was one reason why it was necessary he that was our mediator should be God, and existent from eternity, not only to the end he might be privy to the first design and contrivement of our salvation, and know the bottom and the first of God's mind and heart in it, and receive all the promises of God from God for us, but also in this respect, that his very consent should go to it from the first, even as soon as his Father should design it. And it was right meet it should be so; for the performance and all the working, operating part was to be his, and to lay* all upon his shoulders to execute, and it was a hard task, and therefore reason he should both know it with the first, seeing he was extant together with his Father, and should also from the first contrivement by his Father give his consent to it. It was fit that both his heart and head should be in with the first. And you have all in one Scripture, Isa. ix. 6, where, when Christ is promised, Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given,' observe under what titles he is set forth unto us: Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father.' Where everlastingness, which is affixed to one, is yet common to those other two. The everlasting Counsellor,' as well as everlasting Father;' for he was both Counsellor and Father, in that he was the mighty God, and all alike from everlasting. For, being God, and with his Father as a Son from everlasting, he must needs be a Counsellor with him, and so privy unto all God meant to do, especially in that very business, for the performance of which he is there said to be given as a son, and born as a child, and the effecting of which is also said to be laid wholly on his shoulders. Certainly in this case, if God could hide nothing from Abraham he was to do, much less God from Christ, who was God with him from everlasting. And as he was for this cause to be privy to it for the cognisance of the matter, so to have given his actual consent likewise thereunto: for he was to be the father and founder of all that was to be done in it. And in that very respect, and in relation to that act of will then passed, whereby he became a father of that business for us, it is he is styled the everlasting Father,' and that from everlasting à parte post. For it is in respect of that everlastingness he is God, and so father from everlasting, as well as God from everlasting; a counsellor for us with God, a father of us, and our salvation. God's counsellor, because his wisThat is, 'lie.'-ED.