Z-7 & JTBEOWG'CA . _ Princeio &.v ^■e* — - I SCC *9354 v. 2 s The Daily reporter I o v\ - '/£, M THE WO R K S Of the late Reverend Mr Robert Riccaltoun5 Minifter of the Gofpel at Hobkirk. IN THREE VOLUMES. NEVER BEFORE PRINTED, VOLUME II. CONTAINING A treatife on the General Plan of R e v e- LATION, A N D The ChristianLife; or, Differta- tions on Galatians ii. 20. EDINBURGH: Printed by A. Murray & J. Cochran. For the Author's Son. Sold, at Edinburgh, by W. Gr ay. J Dickson, and c bo 'V- Icrs ; and at London, by E. & C. Till y, and A E MDCCLXXII CONTENTS. A Trcatife on the General Plan of Revelation, Chap. Pag* 1. Revelation founded on faff , •* I 2. Ignorance of abflracl Nature. Igno- rance of Divine Nature, Power, or Works. Knowledge conveyed by I- mages. The true fate of creature- dependence, 24 3 . Mans Original fate and circumfances, 44 5. The nature of the curfe, and the con- dition of man by the fall, fated, 6j J\ Sketch of difpenfat ions from the fall to, the coming of Chrif ; with a gene- ral view of the character of Chrif ', 88 6. Chrif s life and character further con- ftdered, as an example, - 113 7. View of Chrif as a prophet, 135 8. Adminif ration and dif charge of Chrif s office towards fnners, - 156 9. Conclufions, - - 181 The The Christian Life; or, Differtations on Galatians ii. 20. Introduction, - - 197 Diff. 1. / am crucified voith Chrift, 225 Dijf. 2. Never the lefs I live: yet not I; but Chrijl liveth in me, 30S DiJ/l 3. And the life which I novo live in the flefh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, - 376 Dijf.j^. Who loved me, and gave him- felffor mey - 465 Erratum, Pag, 105. Un. $.for exerting, read exciting, TREATISE on the General Plan of REVELATION. CHAPTER I. Revelation founded on Fafta THE wifdom of the firft ages, for more than two thoufand years, confifted in a manner entirely in the knowledge, or rather the belief, of certain facfls handed down from one generation to another. Upon thefe their fentiments, and confequently their affections and paflions, were formed : and thence the whole of their religion, and what is now called morality, the whole of their condudl, both in relation to God and their neighbour, was regulated and directed. It can hardly be imagined, that any traditions, |however authentic in their ori- Vol.IT. A ginal, 2 Revelation founded Ch.L ginal, could be conveyed through fuch hands as even the beft of men are, with- out fome very material alterations. And ac- cordingly two provifions were made for their prefervation : JirJIJ The longevity of the firft men, and the frequent familiar appearances of celeftial beings to, and converfations with them ; to which may be added, the rites and obfervances of their religious worfhip, until the wife direcfior of all found it pro- per to reduce them into writing, begun by Mofes, carried on from time to time by the prophets, and finifhed by Jefus Chrift and his apoftles ; and, fecondly^ A people feparated from the reft of mankind, and invefted with very diftinguifhing pri- vileges, for this very end, to be witneffes for God, and to preferve in their purity thofe divine oracles, which were commit- ted to them with fuch circumftances as could leave no doubt of their divine ori- ginal, and the authority by which they were eftabliibed, fuch as never attended any other fa6ls whatfoever ; and that na- tion was fo wifely placed in the midft of the then habitable world, and the neighbour- hood of thofe dates which had extended their trade and navigation fartheft, that all on Fact. 3 all the inhabitants of the earth had, or might have had, eafy accefs to recover the truth of their traditions, however they might have been corrupted, or even alto- gether loft. In fact, we find that this was the way which the ancient Greeks took for acqui-.- ring knowledge. Travelling was their beft courfe of education ; and their travels lay all one way. Egypt, and the neighbour- hood of Canaan, were the places they fre- quented ; and he who could give the beft account of their traditions, was the wifeft man. And thence, we have good reafon to think, thefe veftiges of truth were ta- ken which are fo much admired in an- cient writings. Thus, however, things went on, until a generation of men arofe, who, affuming the then mo deft name of philofophersy and fcorning to take any thing upon truft, would needs fall a-reafoning, as they called it, on facts greatly above their reach, and where they could have no data to fupport them. In confequ^nce whereof, the principal facts were either rejected as imppftible, or explained away into a confiftency with their own low and miftaken notions or imaginations. Thus, A 2 profeffing 4 Revelation founded Ch.I. profefling themfelves wife, they became fools ; and the knowledge of the true God, and of all the concerns of the fpiritual and eternal world, was in effedt totally loft ; infomuch that the very writings of Mo- fes and the prophets were, by the genera- lity of that people to whom they were committed, greatly perverted from their original intention, and made void by their fooliih traditions. Such was the unhappy ftate of mankind when Jefus Chrift came into the world ; who, by himfelf, and his difciples, fo fully vindicated the original truth, that now, one would have thought, there was effec- tual provifion made againft all corruptions and abufes for ever ; efpecially when thefe ftandards of facred truth came to be trans- lated into vulgar tongues, and lodged in every hand. Thus, we are told, the pri- mitive Chriftians, contenting themfelves with the fimplicity of faith, made it their fole buiinefs to improve the fadls which they believed; to form their hearts and lives upon them, into a converfation be- coming the gofpel of Chrift, which com- prehended them all, and fet them in their proper light. But on Fact. 5 But many ages had not parTed, until the fame fort of rnen treated the written revelation much in the fame manner as their predeceflbrs had done the traditional one ; and fetting out as they did, upon this very fallacious principle, That no man can believe what he does not underftand, or underftand any thing ^f which he has not clear and diftincfl ideas ^ as the images we form of external objedls are called, they found themfelves obliged, either flatly to deny, or explain away the mod mo- mentous fadls, however ftrongly fupport- ed, on which Ghriftianity, or indeed any religion, can Hand, It is palpably certain, that we can have no idea at all, much lefs a clear and diftindt one, of any thing, but what we can imagine, or form fome image of; and that cannot poffibly go a- ny further than material objedis, whate- ver notions or conceptions we may form by defcription, or analogy and refem- blance ; and where thefe fail, there fhould be an end both of our knowledge and our faith, and a ftrong foundation laid for fetting afide all the numerous fingular fadls recorded in the holy fcriptures, and even that on which all religion refts, the beimr 6 Revelation founded Ch.I, being of a God, who is the creator and proprietor of all things in heaven and earth. Our modern philofophers indeed, ta- king the advantage of that light which revelation has given, undertake boldly, not only to difcover the being of God, but to make out a complete character bf him in all his perfections, with all the e- vidence of demonftration. And it muft be acknowledged, they have faid many plaufible things. But as the belief of fome being which is called God has been in the world ever fince there were men in it, all that is left for them is, to try what can be faid for or againft it. This is a quite different thing from finding out a fadl al-* together unknown; a province that rea- fon was never made for ; and which in- deed cannot pofhbly be done, but by bring- ing it fome how under our obfervation j and that cannot be done, but either by bringing it within the reach of our per- ceptive powers, or by the information of others : and when the mod momentous fadls on which the proper evidence of the divine being and diftinguifhing character refts, are confidered, they will be found to be on Fact. *j? be fuch as none but himfelf could either know, or give information about. I may not infift here on a prefumption, which yet carries ftronger conviction a- gainft their pretentions, than all their rea- fonings and demonftrations can ever do for them, viz. That the united attempts of all the very great men who had not accefs to the written record, could never bring, not to fay the world, but even any one of themfelves, to any tolerable know- ledge of the true God. The higheft of their attainment was, to afcribe the tradi- tional epithets of Optimus Nlaximus, the beft and greateft, to what they called God. But who or what that being was, or e- ven what true goodnefs and greatnefs are, neither they, nor any of their modern fuccelTors, have ever been able to fay, without affuming a fadl which they could never have known, or imagined, unlefs they had been told of it, viz. that this a- niverfe, with all the fullnefs of it, wag once nothing, and had no being until he gave it, and made every thing there to be what it is : A fa6l fo lingular in its na- ture, and which required a kind of power fo infinitely above what is known to man, and Revelation founded Ch.L and which fo far furpaffes all human ap- prehenfion, that there is no imaginable way by which fo much as a fufpicion of it could ever have entered into any one's head ; nor could any proper information be given about it, but by the creator him- felf : and yet upon this fuppofition all their reafonings are founded which have any weight, or that can make any laft- ing impreffion* It is true, there have been very high pretentions made to religion, and even de- votion^ on thefe principles ; not only by thofe who could know no better, but by thofe among ourfelves who certainly might. A noted late writer has given us what I think fo juft an account of this^ that I chufe to deliver it in his own wordsa Philofophical devotion, like the enthu- fiafm of a poet, is the tranfitory effeft of high fpirits, great leifure^ a fine ge- nius, and a habit of ftudy and con- templation. But, notwithftanding all thefe circumftances, an abftradled invi- lible objedl, like that which natural re- ligion alone prefents us, cannot long actuate the mind, or be of any great moment in life. To render the paflion " of that Adam in paradife was pofleiled of that kind of life which is called eternal^ the life which is in Chrift Vol. II. K Jefus 5 74 The nature of the Curse, and Ch.IV, Jefus ; which I believe no body will fay. They build much on the nature and de- merit of fin : and I would not willingly fay any thing that might be conftru£ted into the leaft tendency toward extenua- ting the nature of that horrible evil ; but by the iffue of this firft difpenfation, and feveral other inftances in the record, we muft conclude, that it belongs to the great fovereign to affix what penalty he pleafes to his laws. The conclulions drawn from the nature of vindictive juftice, are rather too bold for man to make, without better authority, than the record gives us. But there is one infuperable prejudice that at- tends this fuppofition, That had eternal death been the penalty, Adam himfelf at leaft muft have died eternally ; and if the denunciation given upon the tranfgreffion extends to all his pofterity, as appears by the event it did, not one of them could have been faved, without difpenfing with the unalterable divine conftitution, or fome how changing the tenor of it : An abfurdity which can never be admitted on any confideration whatfoever. That ori- ginal life muft be deftroyed ; nor can' the original law be fatisfied by any means whatfoever Man's condition by the Fall. 75 whatfoever until that is done : but when it is done, and that law thereby fulfilled, there is nothing to hinder the creator to raife whom he pleafes. to eternal life. There is no room for difputing what is called the natural death : but it appears by the judgement given upon the tranf- grefTors, that the denunciation is not to be underftood in that precife fenfe which our tranflation gives to it, " That in the " day they mould eat they fhould furely " die;" neither do the original words ne- ceffarily infer that conftru&ion. Literally rendered, they run thus : " In dying thou " fhalt die." It is enough to fupport the truth of the denunciation, that from that day they mould be brought under the power of death, which the painful labour they were condemned to very naturally ifTues in. But even in the fenfe our tranf- lation gives, the threatening may be found punctually fulfilled : For in that very day there was a final end put to mans paradifiacal life ; he was driven out from that happy dwelling ; and the pittance of life that was left him was fup- ported in fuch a manner, and by fuch different means, that the degradation, e- K 2 ven 76 The nature of the Curse, and Ch.IV. ven in that view, muft have been more than a metaphorical death, when com- pared with the life which he formerly en-* joyed. This was indeed a very fenfible and af- fecting lofs which our firft parents fuftain^ ^d by their tranfgreflion, but not the only death which they fell under on that day. When we reflect on the nature of the crime, and the temptation which induced them to commit it, as bad as the neglect of their creator's authority was, there will appear fomething in it greatly .worfe. Their forbearance of that fruit was made the condition on which they held their lives. But it was made fo for a higher end than a bare trial of their loyalty to their fovereign : It was defigned to main- tain a dutiful fenfe of their dependence on their creator, and that it was purely by his grace and liipporting power that they could live. The crime could not be .emitted, as indeed no fin can, but up- a latent perfuaiion, that there is more be made by the creature than they had expect from the creator. On this the ration was founded, " Ye lhall be as Is, to know good and evil ;" and thus fliould Man's condition by the Fall. 77 ihould not need any longer to be obliged to him ; and that he knew this very well, and had forbidden it merely to keep them in dependence. Thus they were drawn to forfake the only way in which they could live, and to take up with another, where- by it was impoffible they could. And ha- ving thus deferted, and being thereby cut off from the fountain of life, they muft have perifhed infallibly, if there had not been a new way opened for their re- lief. This direcfts us into a farther, and yet more dreadful, though not fo feniible, view of that death the firft offenders were fubjedled to, as they were certainly pof- feffed of a greatly higher kind of life than that of a mere animal. Man was made indeed to take in all the pleafure the whole creation could give in its high- eft bloom of perfection : but he was made alfo for gratifications infinitely preferable, in the intercourfes of friendfhip which fubfifted between his creator and himB We need no more to prove a peculiar kind of life fuited to tins happy fituation, than that he had a fpirit in his conftitu- tion, as well as a body. And created fpi- rits " 78 1rhe nature of the Curse, and Ch.IV. rits can no more fubfift without the con- tinued influences of the divine Spirit, than animals can do without air, and the influences of the fun exerted and directed by it. It is by this Spirit that the divine power, which upholds all things, the ma- terial world by means, and the fpiritual diredtly and immediately, is exerted and put forth, When this Spirit is taken a- way, the communication between God and the creature is fo far broken off, that the man can no longer live as fpirits do ; it is the very death of the fpirit, and what effe dually puts an end to the fpiritual life. But it will not follow, that the fpi- rit muft perifh, or be reduced to its pri- mitive nothing. Annihilation and death are two very different things. When the foul leaves the body, and its connexion with the material fyftem is broken off, the man is dead, though the body continues jufl as it was before ; and even when it is diffolved into duft, there is not one atom annihilated. Muft it not be then reckon- ed fufEcient to denominate a fpirit dead, when its connection with the fpiritual fy- ftem is fo far broken eft, that it can no longer live as fpirits do, but is degraded and Man's condition by the Fall. 79 and funk into a mere implement for exalt- ing the animal life in man, above the fame kind of life in his fellow-brutes, a mere Have and purveyor for the appetites and lufts of his fenfual part. It were much for the intereft of men, in this world, as well as in the next, that this was not fo completely verified as it is by the experience of mankind, and by what is to be found in every child of Adam. We have it ftrongly attefted in the divine record, where we have them all declared naturally to be fuch thorough a- theifts, or fo without God in the wrorld, that they neither receive, nor can fo much as know the things of God, for want of that fpiritual difcerning, which is the firft and moft natural exertion of fpiritual life, and on which all the other adlings of that kind of life are founded. But though we had no fuch teftimony, we needed not go fo far back as the way by which we come into the world, and the total ignorance which infancy and the firft period of life are involved in, to be fully convinced of this fad truth, That all men are born a- theifts ; and that the far greater! part, after all the pains and inftru&ion they will admit of, are but very very little better. We need only 80 The nature of the Curse, and Ch.IVa only look in to ourfelves, and make a fe- rious effort to roufe our fpiritual powers, and try fairly what we can make of God, and of all the wonders of the unfeen fpiri- tual world ; and the lead we can conclude muft be, that we are in a ftate of abfolute banifhment from it, and cut off from all correfponderice with it ; made for nothing but a prefent world, and incapable of li- ving upon any thing but the things of a prefent world ; and the only ufe we put our fouls to is, to make provifion for the flefh to fulfil the lufts thereof. It cannot be thought, however, that the fir ft delinquents, who had been taught and had feen fo much of G od, could ever fink into a ftate of fuch brutal ignorance ; efpecially when, with all the difadvantages our ra- tional and perceptive powers are loaded with, we retain ftill a very marvellous power, or what would be reckoned fuch, was it not fo common, that we can take in informations of fuch things as we ne- ver faw, and make our advantage of them much in the fame manner as if we had feen them ourfelves. By virtue of this wonderful talent, the experimental knowledge our firft parents had acquired might be, as we know by the record it certainlv Man's condition by the Fall. 8i certainly was, handed down to their po- sterity: and even to this day we know what great meafures of hearfay knowledge may be acquired, even of fpiritual and e- ternal things, by the informations we have in our hands ; and which ought to produce the fame effecfi: m us which their experi- mental knowledge did in them. Their behaviour is very inftruciive ; and though very fhortly, yet is very natu- rally defcribed. The firft thing we have obferved about them is, that the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. As nakednefs is often ufed in the record to exprefs the un- happy (late of a foul forfaken of God, it might be reafonably enough conftrudled in this fenfe, were it not for the way they took for relief againfl: the painful fenfe of it, which determines it to bodily naked- nefs. But that does not lead us to ima- gine, as fome have done, that they were formerly in fuch a ftate of childifh fim- plicity, that they could not diftinguifh between a naked and a cloathed body. The opening of their eyes argues no more, but that they were fo ihut during the working of the temptation, that they did Vol.11. L not 82 The nature of the Curse, and Ch.IV. not mind what they were doing; until, upon a reflection on their guilt, fear and fhame, its infeparable companions, feized them at once : unlefs we mould think as fome, not without gyo'd appearance of reafon, have done, that during their inno- cence, and frequent converfe with their maker, their whole bodies were cloathed with fuch a light as flione in the face of Mofes when he came down from conver- ging with God on Sinai. But however that is, their remorfe ap- pears to have been very ftrong. And it could not be otherwife, when they came to reflect on what they had loft, and how fhamefully it was loft, for a trifle, a thing of nothing ! and efpecially when what they had to expect was taken into the ac- count. They durft not think of the crea- tor; and the creature, which was now their only refource, could provide them no better than with a few leaves to cover their nakednefs, and a thicket to hide them from the all-feeing eve of their cre- a tor : A fure fign, that with all the know- ledge they had of the creator, their no- tions of him were not very fublime. And thus, as their only care appears to have been, Man's condition by the Fall. 83 been, to keep out of God's fight, if he had not condefcended to look after them, they had never ventured to feek after him. We need not infill g*£y further on the judgement given m this occafion, by which the date of mankind was fixed ex- actly as we now find it. The ground was curfed, that it fhould not yield its ftrength, even upon the moll laborious tillage ; in the fweat of their face they were to eat their bread ; thorns and thirties fprung fpontaneoufly out of the earth ; and in the end man returns to the dufl from which he was taken. There is a peculiar unhappinefs attends this flation, where man has nothing left him to live upon but what he can pick up in a prefent world, and is fhut out from all correfpondence with his creator. Thence his fentiments come all to be formed upon the prefent llate of things ; and the ra- tional powers, which fhould have balanced the heart with thcfe things which are not feen, have loll their influence ; and, upon the whole, fuch ftrcng and inveterate ha- bits are contracted, that perfect wifdom has declared it as impoflible for him to learn to do well, as it is for the Ethiopian L 2 to 84 The nature of the Curse, and Ch.IV. to change his fkin, and the leopard his fpots. The love of a prefent life, and a prefent world, is the ruling principle in the heart ; and where that is the cafe, we are well inftructed to fay, the love of God can have no place ; and the poor creature can do nothing, but, dead as he is to God, bring forth a continued courfe of dead works, as the apoftle very emphatically and juftly calls all that is done by man, until the Spirit of life in Chrift recovers him into life, and plants the love of God in the heart. Thus the man naturally goes on, with a mind fo blinded by the god of this world, that even the light of the glorious gofpel of Chiift, mining round about him, can have no accefs there : the courfe of the world, and the example of thofe about him, harden him more and more, until the wrath of God, revealed from heaven, againfc all unrighteoufnefs and ungodli- nefs of men, gives the alarm. Guilt points it directly at him : and what mould have driven him to his creator, where on- ly relief can be had, viz. an evil confcience, or a confcioufnefs of guilt, prefents him in all the terrors of an eneim\ and in- flames Man's condition by the Fall. 85 flames the heart to treat him as fuch. It firfl reprefents him as one who will not be pleafed with the creature till he renounce all that is agreeable to his perverted tafte ; and then fo pure, fo holy, and fo juft, that it can never be imagined he will re- gard fuch a wretch as the poor finner muft find himfelf to be. Hence the heart comes to be filled with fuch fears, jealoufies, and evil furmifings, as fofter a fecret enmi- ty, fo ftrong, that it is the hardeft thing in the world to reconcile a finner's heart to God, and make him pleafed with him as he is. This enmity indeed dare not vent itfelf dire&ly, but vents itfelf fufKciently in fecret wifhes, that God were not fo pure, fo holy, and fo irreconcileable to fin. It is this unhappy fpirit that has produced fo many attempts by thofe they call learned me?i, to reconcile the love of God and the love of the world ; and to contrive fuch ideas, as they call them, of God, as may be reconciled to the lufts and pafiions of men ; that is, fuch a god as they want, and could be pleafed with. This apparently unhappy condition, which mankind have been reduced to on occafion of their firft father's tranfgreflion, has 86 The nature of the Curs e, and Ch. IV. has opened the mouths of a certain fet of men, who would be thought greatly wifer than their neighbours, to utter the mod outrageous clamours againft the juftice and equity of this way of proceeding; which they magifterially pronounce fo unworthy of God, that rather than be- lieve it, they will chufe to believe that God has never fpoken to mankind at all, but left them to live and die in this deplorable condition without any remedy. For that men actually are found in this condition cannot be difputed. It mud therefore be found confident with all the divine perfec- tions, that man fhould be born into, and live in a prefent world as we fee he does : and when that is the cafe, one would think it a matter of no great moment, how or in what manner he was brought into it. Had it pleafed the creator to have entered man into this way of living, without ha- ving ever heard of any better ftate any man was ever in ; nay, had he made them mere rational animals, to live and die as other animals do ; who durft have faid any thing againft it ? what ground then can a- ny man have to complain, that he took a method Man's condition by the Fall. 87 method fo inftrudtive, and fo full of good- nefs, as that was, to introduce it by ? But after all, this is only a part, and the dark fide too, of the ftate which man- kind were brought into by the lofs of the paradifiacal life. Mankind was not left a day in that melancholy fituation in which our firft parents found themfelves upon .their tranfgreflion. Their gracious creator fought them out, and, to their apprehen- fion, brought them into judgement. But judgement was given in fuch terms as per- fectly relieved their fears of prefent death. And though it greatly abated their earthly happinefs, it opened a profpecl infinitely more advantageous, in the promife of a feed by the woman, who was firft in the tranfgrefiion, which fhould bruife the fer- pent's head ; that is, as the Apoftle John explains it, " fhould deftroy the works of " the devil," fin and death. And as we certainly know, that he was the old ferpent who deceived Eve in that form, in the curfe, denounced as it is in emblematical terms adapted to the ftate of that noxious reptile, we have a very ftrong defcription of the bafenefs of his nature, his way of living, and the work he was condemned to. CHAP. 8 8 From the F a l l to Ch. V. CHAP. V. Sketch of Difpenfations from the Fall to the coming of Chrift; tvith a general view of the character of Chrifl. TQ? Rom the account we have of the man- JL ner in which man was driven out of paradife, it appears rather to have been a work of mercy than of judgement. The fpeech it is introduced with, " Behold, the " man is become as one of us," has more the air of companion, than of irony, as fome have conftrudled it. And if the following words are juftly rendered, it was an acft of real kindnefs ; that the man might not fall again into the like fnare, and run into a new inftance of rebellion, by attempting to eat of the tree of life, that he might evade the fentence appoint- ing him, to return to the duft from which he was taken. For fecuring againft fuch a pernicious event, a guard of angels was fet, to keep him out. But indeed the original words of Mofes will, without any violence done them, admit the coming of Christ. 89 admit of a very different conftru<5tion. It is well known, that the tree of life, from the beginning to the end of the record, is made ufe of to fignify what the tree which bore that name in paradife was but a fi- gure or emblem of, viz. the great means which God hath chofen to convey eternal life to dead fmners of mankind. It is ob- ferved by thofe ikilled in the language, that the particle which we render %/?, and which gives the turn to the whole fentence, may be as properly rendered^ fo as to put man in a pombility of recovering life, as was done by the intimation already made in the ferpent's curfe. And what follows, of fetting up the cherubims on the eaft of the garden, feems, all things coniidered, to determine their intention to be, not to keep men from, but to guide them into, the way of the tree of life. This will ap- pear more than probable, when we reflect on the purpofe which the cherubims an- fwered in the tabernacle and temple : They were appendages cf the mercy-feat, and Jehovah inhabited them, or dwelt between them. It was, without all queftion, an emblematical exhibition of the G od of grace dwelling among that people for whom Mofes VojL.II. M wrote, go From the Fall to Ch.V^ wrote, who, for any thing appears, had no other notion of cherubim. And when they were told of God's having placed them on the eaft of Eden, they could not help concluding, that he pitched on that as the place in which he chofe to manifeft himfelf, and where the worfhippers were to make their approaches to him : which is yet fur- ther confirmed by this, that we find the face, or faces, of Jehovah, mentioned as fome place from whence Cain was, or at leaft was afraid of being driven out. What is added, of a flaming fword, in our tranflation, is only fire, and another word which fignifies any weapon of flaughter; which may pofnbly be a Ihort hint of the inftltution of facrifice to be offered there. And I believe, upon the whole, it will be found very nearly to refemble the prophet JEzekiel's fire infolding itfelf, in his vifion of the glory of God in the cherubim, ra- ther than a flaming fword turning every way at one part of the garden, while all the reft was left open. But however that is, it cannot be thought that they had no fuller information than the fhort hints we find in the record. The people for whom Mofes wrote, needed no more 5 the corning of Christ. 91 more ; as they were very fully inflrudted in all the matters of acceptable worfhip in the law, by the ftatutes and judgements which were given them. We have not fo much as any exprefs mention of any ap- pointment of that very extraordinary piece of worfhip, viz. the offering facrifices, which yet could never have entered any other way, and carries its divine authority in its very appearance. For who could ever have imagined, that thefhedding a beaft's blood, and burning its flefh with fire, could be pleafing to the great fovereign and pro- prietor of heaven and earth ? Yet we know it was practifed by wife and good men in the earliefl ages ; who would ne- ver have affronted the God they worfhip- ped with fuch an abfurd fort of fervice, if they had not had his order, and feen further into the defign of it, than the later philofopher's did, who ridiculed, and made it their bufmefs to expofe it. Abel facrificed, and his facrifice was accepted ; fo did Noah, Abraham, and others on record; and no doubt many more, who are not mentioned there. Nay, and we have good reafon to carry it higher ; as we find God himfelf making a covering for our firft pa- M 2 rents 92 From the Fall to Ch. V. rents of the (kins of beafts, which mull have t>een killed, and could be killed for no other purpofe than facrifice, as the fl elh of animals was no part of their food in that period. We who know, that from the time we have any accounts of covenants and a- greements among men, they entered into them by facrifice, and how this was the way which God himfelf took when he en- tered into what is called a covenant with the Ifraelitiih nation, are very naturally, led to think, that the fame meafure was taken at the promulgation of the confti- tution of grace, and that grant of eter- nal life which was then made to man- kind in the feed of the woman. That there was fuch a grant then intimated to them, can admit of no doubt ; becaufe it was the only tenor by which they could hold their lives, and the only foundation they had to build their faith and their hope on. There was no difficulty in un- derstanding the import of a promife : but they muft have needed a great deal of in- ftruclion to make tfa em understand the na- ture and ufe of a facrifice ; which indeed it is hardly poffible to make good fenfe of, but as it Hood in connection with the pro- mifed the coming of Christ. 93 mifed feed, the great and complete facri- fice which God had in his perfecft wifdom defigned for putting away fin, fo as it fhould be remembered no more, and to give mankind the ftrongeft affurances, not only of pardon, but of the fulfilment of every tittle contained in the grant, in the fulleft and moft perfect manner, which we {hall find occafion to coniider more particularly afterward. This was fo effential, that we find the Apoftle de- claring pofitively, " that without flied- • • ding of blood there was no remiffion." And thence it is very likely, that the grant or covenant ratified by the facri- fice, and the facrifice itfelf, came to be called by the fame name; and the making of a covenant or deed in one's favour was expreffed by cutting off a BcKiru. It was upon this feed then that the grant of eternal life, and all the promifes fubfervient to it, were founded. We hear nothing further about it, but what is im- plied in what we are told of a time when men began to call upon, fay our transla- tors ; but the original and context deter- mine the fenfe, that they began to be call- ed by, the name of Jehovah. For we readl 94 From the Fall to Ch.V. read there of a divifion among mankind ; thofe who adhered to the inftituted wor- fhip, and thofe who forfook it ; the fons of God joining in marriage with the daughters of men ; upon which fuch wic- kednefs enfued, as occafioned the deftruc- tion of the whole human race, excepting only eight perfons faved in the ark by fpe- cial divine grace. Noah found- grace in the eyes of Jehovah. Noah was no fooner come out of the ark, than we find him building an altar, and offering facrinces of every clean beaft and fowl : A fure evidence that he had been accuftomed to it before ; and that even the diftincflion between clean and unclean beafts was known long before Mofes, and even before the flood ; a diftin&ion which no man had authority to make a- mong God's creatures. God, we are told, fmeiled a fweet favour, or a favour of reft : A phrafe which we find often repeated in the law of Mofes on fuch occafions. What fhall we fay of this ? fhall we believe that the fmell of burnt nefh was fo pleafant to the Mod High? No, furely. But what was reprefented by it, and the faith of the worfhipper in the promifed feed, were fo. Accordingly* the coming of Christ. 95 Accordingly he was blefTecl ; the original blefling was renewed to him, and blood fet apart to make an atonement for the lives of men. In the covenant which God then declared he had made with all flefh, to fecure them againft fuch an univerfally definitive de- luge, we have an inftance, and a ftrong confirmation, of what I obferved of what is called God's covenant ; that it does by no means imply any agreement of parties, but is his own fingle deed, an authorita- tive conftitution or grant which the crea- ture is bound to believe and acquiefce in, which we find ftrongly and properly ex- prefTed by laying hold on his covenant, or entering into it, precifely as he has laid it. This fame conftitution we are directed to as a model of the covenant or conftitution of grace, by the rainbow about the throne, reprefented in vifion to the Apoftle John in his Revelations. It would feem, that by the time Abra- ham was called, the apoftafy had again become very general. The promife of the feed, which had been until that time left at large, was renewed to him, and limit- ed to his family, in a very remarkable manner. 96 From the Fall to Ch. V. manner. The blefling or promife of e- ternal life, and the promifed feed, had al- ways gone together from the beginning. Whenever the feed fhould come, it was taken for granted, that the blefling was to come along with him. But the time of •his coming was at a great diftance. To fupport therefore the faith of his people, and to give proof of his faithfulnefs, he condefcended to give Abraham two inter- mediate grants;- firft, of a fon; and, fe- condly, of the land of Canaan to his feed ; both of them delayed fo long, and him- felf and his wife firft, and afterwards his feed, reduced to fuch circumftances, that nothing but almighty power could make them effectual. But by that power they were made effectual, and the faithfulnefs of God in making good his promifes, fo firmly eftablifhed, that no doubt could be made of what was yet behind. And here again we have another palpable inftance of God's covenant being a deed and confti- tution of his own, without any parties or mutual agreements. The memory of this promifed feed was kept up in the Ifraelitifh nation, from the time efpecially that Mofes wrote fo particu- larly the coming of Christ. 97 larly of him, and the promife continued at . large among them, until it was further li- mited to the family of David ; by whom, and all the fucceeding prophets, he was fet forth in all the views he was defigned to anfwer; fometimes in the character of a fervant, in great affliction and diftrefs ; fometimes in all the authority of a great prophet, and the facrednefs of a prieft; but moitly in the majefty of a great king, fuch as never was in the earth, to whom all the nations of the earth mould wil- lingly fubmit themfelves. In the wifdom of the great director, the fpirit of prophe- cy was withdrawn for a long time before his appearance ; and the poor creatures had got themfelves fo intoxicated with the hopes of an univerfal monarchy^ that when he came, they defpifed his mean worldly appearance, and thus falfilled the prophecies concerning him, and proved him to be the very feed in whom all the families of the earth lhauld be blefled. Thus the record leads oii our views of the feed from the beginning of the world, and never lofes fight of him, until it lands us in the perfon of Jefbs Chrift, the only one, who, by his miraculous birth, pro- Vol. II. N perly 98 A general view of Ch.V. perly merited that title. In him the whole record centers ; infomuch that we may fay with affurance, that there is not one fmgle fadl there which does not one way or other tend to fet him forth to our faith; and therefore it juftly merits the title the Apoftle John gives it, " The re- " cord which God has made," or the te- ftimony which he has given, ponceming his Son, The great Apoftle Paul was fo feniible of this, that when he came to declare the teftimony of God to the Corinthians, " he determined to know nothing among 44 them, but Jefus Chrift, and him cruci- u fied ; ' and accordingly counted all things but lofs and dung, in comparifon with that excellency there is in the know- ledge of him. He gives it accordingly as the fum of Chriflianity, to know him, fedted, by deftroying the finner and fin together. Now, it is the very bufinefs for wrhich our Lord came into the world, to fave his people from their fins. But when men will not come to him that they may have life, he has declared plainly the judgement he will certainly give againft them, " even everlafting deftruclion from " the prefence of the Lord, and the glory *c of his power." It muft therefore be but a very fmall gleam of hope that can be gathered from this general view of the divine goodnefs. It is from the riches of fovereign grace, mercy, as an Example. i ig mercy, and companion, that the hope of fuch creatures as we are, poor helplefs iin- ners, muft fpring. Thefe are views of God which are no where to be had but in Je- fus Chrift ; and there they are all to be feen in their greater! perfection, fuch as not only gives hope, but the ftrongeft affu- rance in the moft defperate - like ftate which a finner can pombly be in» For when we look further into this his amiable image, we muft perceive the higheft benevolence, kindnefs, and good- will to mankind ; fuch a tendernefs of fympathy and compaffion, and fuch bountiful and diiinterefted beneficence, as the world never had one inftance of ; e- ver ready to inftrudt the ignorant, to re- lieve the miferable and wretched, and to heal every ailment of body or mind ; no cafe fo defperate as to exceed his power, nor any finner fo vile as to be below his notice. Seven devils, or even a legion, poffeffing one perfon, did not hinder the finner's acceptance ; and the greatnefs of the fins which were forgiven, only made the finner to love him more. All the cures he performed either on the fouls or bodies of men, with all their endearing i26 Christ' considered Ch.VI, endearing circumftances, which were very many, are fo many pictures, if we may exprefs it fo, of the mind of God. His marvellous love and kindnefs to mankind* and his tender mercies, which have been for ever of old, There was one thing further in the conduct of Jefus which deferves our par- ticular notice, viz. the abfolute contempt which he mowed of all thofe things which the world are fo madly fond of, the rich- es and honours, the power and glory, and all the pleafures and enjoyments of a pre- fent life. And this mewed at once how con- temptible all thefe things are in God's eye; and how much they are below the regard of a perfect man ; fo that our fondnefs for any the mod agreeable of them, inftead of being an accomplifhment, is a ftire e- vidence of the degenerate bafenefs of a mind funk greatly below the ftandard al- lotted by the creator. This leads us forward to another inva- luable advantage we have in the character of Jefus Chrift, viz. a pattern of perfec- tion, which we may fafely follow, and the only one we may follow without excep- tion. For there we fee how God himfelf would as an Example. 121 Would live, nay, and how he did live, when among men, in the perfon of Jttv* Chrift. He not only brought life and im- mortality into open light by his reiurreo tion from the dead, but opened up, and went before, as the captain of falvation, in the way that leads to that eternal life, fetting an example that we may follow his fieps. And accordingly we find, that in all the directions he gave for entering into life, this was always the concluding part, Follow me. And thence he lays it down as a general rule, V If any man ferve me, " let him follow me ; and where I am, " there mall alfo my fervant be." And the Apoftle John fpeaks the fame language : " He that faith he abideth in him, ought " himfelf alfo fo to walk, even as he u walked." This is a matter of the utmoft import- ance, and is not to be accomplifhed by obferving fome one or more pieces of his example, or to copy from thence this or the other virtue, as I have heard fome fpeak. The whole muft be taken toge- ther ; and, as the Apoftle wifely directs, \ the fame mind muft be in us that was in Chrift Jems ; " and, as another advi- Vol.II. (^ fes, cc 122 Christ confidered Ch.VI. fes, " Arm ourfelves with the fame mind V which was in him when he fuffered for " us in the flefh:" A large held, and which deferves to be very particularly confidered, as indeed it takes in the whole fyftem of practical Chriftianity. I can only point out a few generals, which will give fome no- tion of the whole. And here, in the firft place, if we mind to follow him, we muft fet out upon the fame principles of truth he did. We can- not indeed propofe to attain fuch com- prehensive views as he had of the fpiritual and eternal world; without which, it is impoffibie to attain any right knowledge of the prefent one in which we live : but he has given us his mind concerning both the one and the other ; and if we dare be- lieve his teftimony, we fiiall fee both in the fame light in which he, who perfectly underiiood them, did ; especially with the advantage which we have of his example, and the manner in which he treated both ; the contempt he always mowed for a pre- fent world, and the high regard he had to his heavenly Father, and the glory of the tthfeen eternal world. It is only by this N teftimony that wTe can know any thing of thefe as an Example. 123 tliefe unfeen things, and exactly as the iirength of our faith or belief of this te- ftimony is, fach will be our conformity to his views of thefe things. But his was not a mere fpeculative knowledge of them, it was reduced into a fyftem of perfect wifdom. Ail his fen.- timents were formed on his infallible views of truth, fo that he could never be miftaken ; and all his judgements, both of perfons and things, were equally infalli- ble. This is fuch a perfection as no other man can pretend to. But ail our fenti- ments, that is, our way of thinking and judging of things, muft be formed up- on the fame ftandard ; to efteein and defpife, to love and hate, to hope and fear, &c. and of courfe to purfue and a- void every thing, jufl as he did before vis. Here our wifdom lies, and this is the only cure for our natural folly. He who fees things as he did, the truth, rea- lity, and worth of eternal and unfeen things, and has his heart and affections formed upon them, muft entertain the fame contempt he had of all that a pre- fent world has either to allure or frighten us with. Where-ever the love of God is Q^2 fo 124 Christ confidered Ch. VI. fo flied abroad in the heart as to become the ruling principle, there the world lofes ir_s hold ; the light of his glory, as it fhines in the face of Jefus Chrift, cafts fhame and difgrace on all worldly glory. There was one thing our Lord was moft remarkable in, and which makes a great part of the pattern he hath fet us ; I mean, his perfect felf-denial, and abfolute refignation to his heavenly Fa- ther's will, and the moft perfect ac- quiefcence in it. Thus we find him al- ways profemng, that he came not into the world to do his own will, but the will of him that fent him. Nor did he e- ever feek his own glory, but his heavenly Father's ; and to this great end the whole bimnefs of his life was devoted. The A- poftle fets this felf-denial and refignation in a very ftrong light, by the high rank which he held : For " though he was in the *' form of God," and poJIefTed all the glory and bleflednefs which belong to fuch an ex- alted Ration 3 yet he willingly " made him- iC felf of no reputation, was found in fa- *' fhioii as a man, took upon him the form 4i of a fervant," and fubmitted to all the fol- lows and fufferings that could take place without as an Example. 125 without fin. In conformity to this, he taught his difciples to fay in their prayers, " Thy " will be done;" and made it the firfl ftep every one fhould take who propofed to follow him, " To deny themfelves." I do but juft obferve how fhamefully this precept, or rather folemn certification, is commonly trifled away : when we prevail with ourfelves to renounce any trifling gratification, we give it the name of mor- tification and felf-deniaL But it is ourfelves we are called to deny ; and it is the flefli, or old man, all that we are by Adam, which we are called to mortify, refigning ourfelves entirely to the will and difpofal of our heavenly Father. What our bleffed pattern adds in that certification he gave his hearers, deter- mines the meaning of this part, and car- ries the refignation recommended by his example to its proper height : he was o- bedient to the death, the death of the crofs ; and if we mean to follow him, we mull do as he did, deny ourfelves, and take up our crofs. It were to be wiilied that this was the only inftance where the fcripture-meaning is obfcured or mifta- ken, by applying to the words the fenfe which 126 Christ confidered Ch.VT. which has been affixed to them in later times. We have, I know not how, affix- ed the name of croffes to the little ruffles we meet with in common life ; and when we can any how fubmit without fretting and murmuring, we flatter ourfelves that we have fulfilled his command, and may pafs among his followers. But the words he ufes had no fuch meaning when he ut- tered them. The crofs was the inftrument of death ; and to take up one's crofs, was to acl as convicted criminals did, fubmit- ting themfelves to the death awarded them : and as that is the cafe of every child of Adam, nothing lefs can be meant by it, than acknowledging the juflice of the fentence, and accordingly refigning and giving up the life which it ftrikes at, (and that is unqueftionably all the life we have from the firft Adam), into the hands of juftice, to be deftroyed, and have a fi- nal end put to it. This is a very hard faying to the chil- dren of Adam ; it is renouncing and gi- ving up their all ; and which indeed is impofiible for man to do, but in the itrength of that faith and hope through which our blefTed pattern endured the crofs, as an Example. xij crofs, and defpifed at once the fhame and the torment, becaufe he knew that it was in this way he was to enter into his glory. In this profpedt he . chearfully refigned himfelf to a fcene of fufFerings, fuch as no man, either before or after him, was or could be expofed to, having the curfe which fin had brought on all the children of Adam, the whole weight and burden of it, lying upon him ; and thus " being " made perfect through fufFerings, he be- " came the author of eternal falvation to " all them that obey him." This leads us into a further, and, if poffible, a more interefting view of Jefus Chrift ; as in him we have not only life and immortality fairly brought to light,but the foundations of faith and hope laid fo ftrong, that what feemed abfolutely im- poffible for man to do, becomes the eafieft and mod eligible thing in the world. The resigning and giving up the forfeited life we have from Adam into the hands of juftice, comes out to be no more but ex- changing it for one, in all the views that can be taken of it, infinitely preferable ; as if a condemned criminal, by fubmitting to the fentence, fhould come to the poiTeliion of I2§ Christ considered Ch.VL of a rich inheritance ; which is the very comfortable view that the Apoftle gives us of this change : " We know, that if our " earthly houfe of this tabernacle were " diffolved, we have a building of God, " a houfe not made with hands, eternal " in the heavens/' And furely thofe who have fuch a profpecT:, will be longing af- ter that bleffed hope. Among all the wife and gracious pur-* pofes which were anfwered by fixing mail- kind in the (late wherein they are noW found, this is one of the mod gracious and beneficent, That every man muft, if he has any reflection at all, find himfelf in fach circumftances, as that nothing but abfolutely free grace can relieve him, and that it is abfolutely impoihble he can live any other way ; and it is really afto-* nifhmg, that any man of common fenfe could ever overlook fuch an obvious and important truth, or entertain the leaft iha<* dow of hope on any other grounds. It is as plain, that the mod high God muft be abfolute matter of his own grace* to give or to with-holdhis free favours, and to extend them to whom he pleafes, and in what manner ? and by what means, he pleafes, as an Example. 129 pleafes. We need not, for fupporting or illuftrating this claim, fuppofe, that the creator took any advantage agamft man- kind from the tranfgrefllon of their firfh parents ; much lefs that he acquired any- new rights by their forfeiture. The cafe would have been juft the fame had they been all created in the (late they are now in ; only we mould have wanted that warning-piece, and the inftructian it gives us, how impoiTible it is for a creature to live any other way, than by the mere grace of the creator. The native and neceffary confequence of this is, that no creature can have any reafon to expect any additional favour whatioever, or any higher flation in God's world, than that which he finds himfelf in, whether placed there by his creator, or which he himfelf hath chofen : I fay, which he himfelf hath chofen ; becaufe it is not only a pomble, but a very common cafe among men, to fink themfelves, ei- ther by indolence, or fomething worfe, into a ftate greatly below that which the conflitutional powers the creator gave them, might either have kept them in, or raifed them to. And furely no man will Vol. II, R imagine^ 130 Christ considered Ch.VL imagine, that the creator is bound to re* pair the wafte that the creature hath made. Nothing but a declaration from himfelf of what he will do by a fovereignly free pro- mife, can warrant any fuch expectation. Such a promife, or a declaration equi- valent to a promife, we find has been in the world from the time that iin and death entered together. By what the Apoftle fays to Titus, we are warranted to take it greatly higher ; for he fays exprefsly, that " God, who cannot lie, promifed that ve- " ry eternal life which they had the hope " of, before the world began" And that was fure.ly before Adam had finned, or was fo much as created : And it is evi- dent, that there was none then to receive the promife, but he who was fet up from everlafting, the fame who appeared in due time in the perfon cf Jefus Chrift. The fame apoftle confirms it, and carries it yet lurcher; for he fays to Timothy, and fays. it as an acknowledged truth that no Chri- ftian in thole days had any doubt about, that this grace was not only pronvfed, bu£ adhxally given them in Chrijl Jefus in -that antemundaiie period. Our Lord gives u$ the progrefs of this promife. as an Example. 131 promife, in what lie fays of it to his dif- ciples under another notion, very com- mon with him and his apoftles, the king- dom of God, the kingdom of heaven, and often limply, the kingdotn ; where, he fays, the fubjects are all admitted to eat and drink at his table ; as much as to fay, they are abundantly provided out of his ful- nefs. This kingdom, he fays, the Father hath appointed to him. So our translators render it : but the word, in the original, fignifies " the making a thing over;" whether by free gift, or on certain terms or conditions, it does not fpecify. By this deed of the Father, he has the pro- perty veiled in himfelf, and full powers to convey it to whom he pleafes. And thus " it pleafed the Father, that in him all cc fulnefs ihould dwell ; " that is, all the grace that ever was to be fhown to man- kind. Thus we have Jefus Chrifl {landing at the head of mankind in the new crea- tion, and in relation to the fpiritual and eternal world, juft as Adam flood in the firft creation, and in relation to this pre- fent world; and the truth, as it is in Jefus, will be found to anfwer the figure R 2 with 132 Christ confidered Ch.Vl. with great exactnefs. There was, and it was abfolutely neceifary there fhould be^ a very great odds between the two in ma- ny refpecls. The Apoftle gives us the principal ones : " The firft Adam was " made a living foul, the fecond a quick- " ening fpirit; the firft was of the earth, " earthy, the fecond was the Lord from " heaven/' But in other refpedls they a- gree with furpriiing exactnefs ; which may reafonably determine us to think, that the- firft creation, and the way in which men were brought into the world by that ori- ginal conftitution, was defigned by divine wifdom to be a fort of fenfible image and reprefentation of the fpiritual, and there- fore invifible, manner in which men are brought into the fpiritual and eternal world : and accordingly it is upon this plan that all the deferiptive accounts we have of it are formed. By what we werejuft now obferving from the Apoftle, and our Lord's own wordsj we find he received the grant of the king- dom, or eternal life, from the Father's hand, and had it actually lodged in him, as our firft father had the life of all man- kind lodged in him : and as there is no way as an Example. 133 way of entering among mankind in this world, but by deriving from Adam in the courfe of what is called natural generation^ no more can any oiie have accefs to the fpirituai world i without deriving from Jefus Chrifh in the courfe of regeneration , or by that new birth in which our Lord inftrudled Nicodemus. Each of thefe lives rcfemble the original from which they arc drawn. Adam's children, all of them, bear the image of the earthy man, and their life is of the fame kind, necefTarily terminating in death. The children by the fecond birth, are all formed upon the heavenly man, from whom they derive their life. They all bear his image, and their life is, like the quickening Spirit from whom they derive it, fpirituai and eter- nal. But that which calls for our fpecial ob~ fervation is this : Both received the terms by which their refpective lives were to be held, as they were the only two who, each in his feveral kind, had accefs to deal di- rectly and immediately with God. The terms were very different, and fo was the event. Thofe given to the firft man, were the eafieft that can well be imagined : but 134 Christ confidered Ch.VL but he did not fulfil them ; and by his tranfgrefiion, entailed death on all his de- pendents, along with that life which he conveys to them. " Thus by one man " {in entered into the world, and death " by fin ; and fo death hath palled upon " all men, for that all have finned." And there fliould have been an end of all fleih, if the fovereign gift of grace had not prevented it. The terms on which the kingdom, or e- ternal life, was granted to the Lord from heaven, the quickening Spirit, or as him- felf exprefles it, the commandment View of Chiust Ch.VII. diation and interceflion of Chrifl is fuch a lingular thing, that we mould never have been able to form any tolerable concep- tions of it, or found words and language to fpeak about it. There is nothing like it either in the natural or moral world, but what has been copied from this ori- ginal. Priefls and facrifices have been found in every nation; and thence an i- mage, more or lefs perfe6l, laid to our hands, by which we may attain more or lefs perfect views of this very important fubjed: ; and the better we are acquainted with thefe emblems and figures, the more perfedi will our views be of the truth, a$ it is in Jefus. We have therefore great reafoii to be thankful for, what the wifdom of the world fo much defpifes, the very particu- lar account we have of the inftitution of the priefthood, and the feveral kinds of facrifices, for anfwering the occafions an4 different cafes of the worfhippers ; the fe- veral kinds of warnings and purifications, from the feveral forts of defilement and pollution, which difqualified them from joining with the congregation, and ap- proaching the place of God's prefence; which, as a Priest. 141 which, in a very lively manner, reprefent at once the guilt and pollution of fin, and that fear and fhame with which they are naturally attended. In thefe confifts what the Apoftle very juftly terms an evil con- ference, which muft be fome how or other removed, and what he calls the confeience (or rather confcioifnefs) of fins y taken away, before any offender can acquire confidence enough to appear in the prefence of God ; which he never will do, until he is fure of finding acceptance. This muft be the greateft diftrefs a crea- ture can be in, whenever it is felt. But felt it never will be, until the finner knows what fin is, and the unhappinefs of being {hut out from God, and expofed to the inconceivable effects of his anger, and ir- reconcileable enmity againft fin ; which, it muft always be minded, is but the native tendency of his perfect goodnefs. And hence it was fo ordered in that wife con- ftitution, that no man could have the be- nefit of the remedy provided, the facrifice which put away the fin, but he that was fenfible of the abfolute need of it ; for thus the order flood. The offender muft bring the facrifice to 142 View of Christ Ch.VII. to the prieft ; and that not of his own chufing, or what he thought beft and fit- teft, but that which God had appointed in that particular cafe. He muft make a free and full confeffion of his fin over the facrifice. This was often, if not always, accompanied with laying his hand on the head of the vidlim, which was the fign of its being fubftituted in his place, to bear that punifhment which he had deferved. And it is to be obferved, that no repentance, acknow- ledgement, or confeffion, however fincere, could be accepted in any other manner, The prieft, who, by his office, ftood bound to receive the facrifice, took the fin iipon himfelf, to put it away, by offering the vidtim in the manner appointed in the law. But if he failed in any point, the punifhment of that lay upon himfelf, and was not imputed to the offender from the time that the facrifice was taken off his hand. But all this would have been but a flen- der foundation for the faith and hope of a {inner, had he been left there. The divine inflitution indeed promifed much, as he might thence be allured, that there was fpme as a Priest. 143 fome great purpofe to be anfwered by it. But had it not been for the promife an- nexed to the facrifice, that the lin fhou Id be forgiven, he muft have been left in great uncertainty about the event. But however ignorant he may be fuppofed to have been of the reafon of the inftitution, and however unprominng-like the means -might appear, he might with great aflu- ranee reft on the word of a faithful God : and therefore the bufinefs of the prieft did not end with the offering, until by the fprinkling of the blood he had made the atonement, and fecured the promifed bleffing. The fervice of the great day of atonement, when the high prieft a6led on behalf of the whole people, was the completed re- prefentation of Chrift's priefthood. I need not enter into particulars : it may faffice to obferve, that the high prieft at that- time only, entered into the moil holy place, prefented the blood with incenfe, and came out, and bleffed the people in the name of Jehovah. There is one circumftance which we find the Apoftle takes particular notice of, H That no man takedi this honour unto " himfelf; 144 View of Christ Ch.VII. " himfelf, but he that is called of God, " as was Aaron." This is a material point, upon which the whole fuccefs of this miniftration depends. And indeed, until we are fecured in this, our expecta- tions muft at beft be but wavering and uncertain. We are not left at an uncer- tainty here. The Apoftle tells us, that " Chrift did not glorify himfelf, to be " made an high prieft;" but was inftalled with a folemnity fuch as never any other was, viz. with the oath of the Mofl High ; and that his priefthood was of an order^ too, greatly fuperior to that of Aaron, the prieft and the king being united in one perfon ; nay, that he was a king too of a peculiar kind; " King of righteoufnefs* " and King of peace:" for fo the Apoftle interprets the name and place of Melchi- zedek, who appears to have been marked out in the hiftory for a figure of a per- petual priefthood, without beginning or ending, without predeceffor or fucceflbr. We are not told by the Pfalmift, whofe words are quoted by the Apoftle, when this oath was given : but it muft, have been as ancient as the covenant or confti-* ration to which it belonged, and given at the as a Priest, *4$ the fame time* that the terms of the grant were laid upon the Redeemer, and eternal life lodged in his hand, Nor is it any objection, that he did not enter upon the execution of his office until he came in the flefli. The all-wife God knew per- fectly whom he had to deal with ; he had laid the burden on one who had flrength to bear it, and was as faithful as he was able. He could fee at one glance from one end of time to another, and it was the fame to him as if it had been done. The high worth and dignity of the pried promifes fair, and our expectations mull be greatly raifed when we coniider his facrifice. The Apoftle fays, " he mull " have fomething to offer." Burnt offer- ings of beafts, and fuch facrifices as the Mofaical priefls offered, were all rejeded ; and indeed much below his dignity. " Through the eternal Spirit he offered " himfelf without fpot unto the Father," and thus put away fin for ever by that one facrifice, and perfected for ever all thofe who are fandtified. The Apoftle's reafoning is flrong and conclufive : " If " the blood of bulls, and of goats, and " the allies of an heifer fprinkling the Vol. II. T " unclean, 146 View of Christ Ch.Vil. <-(. unclean, fancftified unto the purifying of the flefh ; how much more fhall the " blood of the Son of God purge our " conferences from dead works to ferve "the living God?" I need but jufl: obferve, that all the ex- preffions we find made ufe of in the re- cord to defcribe the nature and defign of his death and fufFering, fuch as, his dying and laying down his life for his people, giving his life a ranfom, redeeming them by his blood, &c. all of them appear but fo many equivalent terms, by which the effedl of his facrifice is explained and fet forth ; fo that there does not feem any ne- ceffity for a plain Chriftian's entering into- the many intricate debates which have been broached concerning the nature and effefe of what is called ChrlJTs fatisfaciionr which can mean no more but his perfect fulfilment of the terms of life; and when we know that the facrifice was accepted, we know all that we have any occafion for. But however high our expectations may be juftly raifed by the views of fuch a prieft, and fuch a facrifice, (and we may very firmly affure ourfelves that they will anfwer as a Priest. 147 anfwer all the purpofes for which fuch a miniftration was intended) ; yet until that is certainly known, we mull itiil be at a lofs ; and we can know it no other way than the . Old-Teftamerit worfhippers did, viz. by the declaration and promife annexed to the facrifice. So far as that goes, our faith and confidence in the fa- crifice may, and ought to go, and no fur- ther. The Mofaical facrifices had no more annexed to them but the forgivenefs of fin, and that anfwered their defign. Par- don is the native intention of a facrifice. This is what the finner is mod anxious to obtain ; and with good reafon, not only as it relieves the prefent and moil fenfibly felt diftrefs, but as it is abfolutely necef- fary to open the way for, and to render the finner capable of, receiving all further favours and benefactions from the hand of God, who is fo eflentially good and holy, that he can have no dealings with a finner in the way of grace, until fin is ta- ken away. But had the promife, or grant annexed to this facrifice, ftopt there, we muft have found ourfelves in no better circumftan- ces than thofe who applied to the -Mofaic T 2 facrifices, 148 View of Christ Ch.VII. facrifices, and could expedt no more but to be reftored to the poffeflion of the for- feited life, and that without any fecurity againft falling again into the fame unhappy circumfhances. Indeed it neither was nor could be the intention of our great high prieft, nor of him who appointed the fa- crifice, to reftore any one to Adam's life. There wras an irrevocable fentence given againft it ; the fame which goes fo often under the name of a curfe, and which ne- ver leaves the fubjeft it fallens on, until it has brought it to abfolute deftruction. Adam's child muft die. But then, in the virtue of this great facrifice, there comes along with the promife of pardon a free grant or deed of gift of what is infinitely better, even eternal life. But there is one circumftance, in which it is not unlikely fome wTill imagine, that the Jews had greatly the advantage of us. They had the facrifice at hand, and it was no great journey to find the prieft, who, they knew, might not refufe to take their fin off their hand : and an advantage it was, if it be a higher privilege to live by fenfe, than to live by faith ; wrhich we indeed muft do, if we propofe to make any as a Priest. 149 any thing of this facrifice, or to have any dealings with this great high prieft. And yet, after all, there was more of faith, even in their fervice, than every one will fufpedt. Faith was the very life and fpi- rit of it ; without which, it could not fubfift. I do not mean only the neceffity there was of looking beyond the figure and lhadow, to the great high prieft and fa- crifice reprefented thereby ; without which it was a mere carcafe, a dead image, which could profit no further than a pre- fent world, and the prefent perifhing life ; but even for that they had no fecurity but what arofe from the divine inftitution, and the promife of forgivenefs on the right offering of the facrifice ; for which, in moft cafes, they had no more but a mere implicit faith in the fidelity of the prieft, whofe character very often afforded very little encouragement to truft him in a matter of fuch moment. As our great high prieft, and his facri- fice, his inftalment and fidelity, give vaft advantages to our faith;, fo in a fpecial manner doth the afTurance we have of the acceptance of his facrifice. "When the iiigh prieft entered into the holieft with the IJ4 View of Christ Ch.VII. the blood of his facriflce, the finner had no fecurity for his being accepted, but that he came out alive. Now " our high " prieft is not entered into the holy places " made with hands, but into heaven it- " felf, there to appear in the prefence of " God for us." It is true he is not come out again, as the Jewifh high prieft did. But hence arifeth our ftrongeft aflurance, that he has done the bufinefs effe&ually ; and by his one facrifice fo put away fin^ that it fhall be remembered no more. So that he has nothing left him to do, but to difpenfe and give forth that life which is, now abfolutely lodged in his hand, until he comes again, once for all, to receive his people to himfelf, " that where he is, " there they may be alfo." Thus we find all things {landing as in the record which the Apoftle John tells us God has made concerning his Son, or the teftimony he has given, viz. " That God " hath given to us eternal life, and that '* this life is in his Son: fo that he that " hath the Son, hath life; and he that hath " not the Son, hath not life." Which, whofoever believes not, he allures us, makes God a liar, becaufe he doth not believe as a Priest. i$£ believe his teftimony. This, one fhould think, might fully determine what has wrought much difturbance among* Chri- flians, viz. who the us are to whom God is faid to have given eternal life. No body fure will doubt of his having given it to fuch as are really put in pofTeilion of it. All the doubt is, whether God has made fuch a deed of gift, fuch a grant of life, as every one who hears it is bound to be- lieve, with fuch a firmnefs of faith, as mall determine him to flee to it as a re- fuge to lay hold on the hope fet before him there. And how can that be a que- ftion, when all who hear the gofpel are not only called, but commanded, under the moft terrible penalty, to believe in Je~ fus Chrift, to put their truft in his facri- fice and interceflion, with the ftrongeft affurances, that in this way they certainly fhall obtain pardon and eternal life ? But if the great high prieft and his facriflce are either defpifed or neglected, they furely can have no more to expect, than the defpifers of Mofes's law, " to die without mercy." The Apoftle gives us the ftate of the old Ifraelites as a parallel cafe to thofe who live under the gofpel, and have the teftimony K2 View of Christ Ch.VIL teftimony of God declared to therri : and indeed it is fo parallel, that it feems to have been made for the purpofe. The grant of the land of Canaan was given to Abraham, the father of that people, and in mch terms, that God himfelf, who cannot lie, or miftake in wording it, fays, Gen. xv. 18. " Unto thy feed have I given 4C this land." He fent Mofes well attefted to conduct the people into it, with the ftrongefl amirances, that he had taken it upon himfelf to put them in poflefnon ; and mowed fuch figns and difplays of al- mighty power, as could leave no room to entertain any doubt of his being abun- dantly able to do what he had promifed. And when it is further confidered, that he had given them a body of laws which could not be put in practice until they were in porTeflion of the land for which thefe laws were calculated, who can doubt of their being bound to believe that God would certainly perform what he had prdmifed ? But they did not believe it. And when there was nothing left them to do but to go forward, they would not, becaufe they did not find themfelves able to fight and conquer thofe who were in poffemon ; and, in the event, only two of all the mul- titude as a Priest. 153 titude were permitted to enter in ; the car- caiTes of the reft fell in the wildernefs, becanfe they believed not God, nor trail- ed in his falvatioii. Our Lord himfelf gives us another cafe, which he has declared perfectly parallel, and therefore muft be depended on : " As " the brafen ferpent was lifted up in the -c wildernefs, fo mall the Son of man be " lifted up, that whofoever believes on " him, fbould not perifh, but have ever- *c lafting life." He compares the promife of eternal life, as it ftands annexed to the facrifice he has made of himfelf,- to the promife of healing by the brafen ferpent ;: and believing in him, to looking on that ; as the general call ftands directed by the prophet to all the ends of the earth to look unto him and be faved. Now, as none would look at the brafen ferpent; with any expectation from it, but they who believed the promife, (and they certainly would) ; fo they who believe the promife of pardon and life annex- ed to the facrifice of Chrift, will as cer- tainly believe in him, and reft their hearts and their hopes there. In both cafes, there is equally free accefs for all Vol. II. *U tQ J54 View of Christ Ch.VII, to whom the promife is fent. But if any of the bitten Ifraelites, on any confidera- tion, refufed or neglected to look, they perifhed without remedy. And who can complain, if the negledters of Chrifl and his falvation perilh in the fame manner ? Will their unbelief or peryerfenefs make void the faithful prom;fe ? It ftands pre- cifely as it did, and as it does to thofe who believe. But if it is not believed, it can have no other effect than if it had not been made. There was one thing I obferved about the office of priefthood, which it may be proper to take in here, as it effe&ually obviates every exception that can be made againft the gift of pardon and life in its utmoft extent, viz. That the prieft by his office was bound to receive every man that came with his facrifice, whatever he was, or however otherwife qualified or diftin- guiflied. Our great high prieft has de- clared the fame concerning himfelf, That *.* him that cometh to him," whofoever he is, or whatfoever he hath done or not done, " he will in no wife caft out." Nay, and that he ftands bound by the commandment of the Father to give him eternal as a Priest. 155 eternal life. The gift indeed, by the very terms of the grant, and the only way in which life is or can be conveyed to any of Adam's race, is fo confined to Jefus Chrift, that " he that hath the Son, hath life ; 44 and he that hath not the Son, hath not 44 life." But, at the fame time, all things are laid fo ready in him, that if any comes fliort of it, it mufl be, as himfelf hath Hated it, 4< becaufe they will not 44 come to him that they may have life." I have faid nothing of the feveral warn- ings and purifications we find fo much and fo minutely infilled on in the law of Mofes. They were very fteceffary under that difpenfation to keep up a dutiful fenfe of the purity and holinefs of that God with whom they had to do ; for this we find given as the reafon for what we mould reckon the moft trifling of them, " that 44 he, Jehovah, their God, was among " them, and that he was holy;" and, at the fame time, to keep them carefully up- on their guard againft that abominable thing fin, the only real evil which he has declared his foul hates : and they anfwer the fame purpofes to us now. But we have one complete relief in the fountain U z which 156 Of Christ's office Ch.VlIt which is opened for fin and for all un- cleannefs : " The blood of Jefus Chrift " cleanfeth from all fin." And thus the Apoftle John reprefents him as coming by- water and blood, alluding probably to the blood and water which flowed from his heart pierced by the foldier's fpear. This does effectually what all the legal purifi- cations were but ftiadows of; it purgeth the confidence from dead works ; and in- ftead of that flavifh fear and dread which an evil confidence naturally produces, gives the vileft finner boldnefis and confi- dence to enter into the holieft, by that new and living way which our great high prieft has confecrated through the vail of his own flefli. CHAP. VIII. Admimfiraiion and d'lf charge of Chrift s office towards Sinners, THE foundations of the Chriftian's faith and hope appear laid fo ftrong in the facrifice of our great high prieft, and the full and comprehenfive promife of pardon and towards Sinners. £57 and life annexed to it, that one would think none who has any knowledge of it fhould need the Apoftle's exhortation, " to draw " near with a true heart, and in full af- cc furance of faith and hope, when they " have their hearts fprinkled from an e- " vil confcience." And truly all the dis- couragements a ferious perfon can poffibly meet with are fo abundantly provided a- gainft in Jefus Chrift, that whatever diffi- culties arife in the way of believing, muffc flow from partial or miftaken views, ei- ther of the prieft, or his facrifice, (and commonly both go together) ; or from miftaking the import and meaning of the grant and promife annexed to the facri- fice. I believe they may be all reduced to two; felt unworthinefs, and weaknefs ; which commonly go together, and are the very fame which betrayed the old Ifrael- ites into their unbelief. The record is fo far from difcouraging a fenfe either of the one or of the other, that great pains are taken to ftrike the feeling of them both, greatly deeper than any child of Adam would chufe. All the accounts we have given us of the ftate of mankind reprefent them 158 Of Christ's office Ch.VIIL them not only as unworthy of any favour, and lefs than the leaft of all mercies, but as moft worthy of the fevereft puniihment the creator can inflict upon an obftinate re- bellious creature. ..Our powers are repre- fented every way as defective as our me- rit ; fo far are we from being able to ful- fil any law, even when we have brought it as low as can be done with any tole- rable decency, and fubftituted what is called fincerity inftead of perfection, that we are affured we cannot receive, nor even know the things of God ; and if fo, how can we either repent or reform to any purpofe? Our Lord hath affured us in exprefs terms, that faith is fo much the gift of God, that " no man can come to *Q him unlefs the Father draw him:" nay, that without him, his beft difciples can do nothing. The Apoftle Paul, who was undoubtedly one of the moft eminent of them, fets his feal to this, acknowledging, that he and his fellow-apoftles were not fufficient of themfelves fo much as to think any thing as of themfelves : and what can be more expreffive of human weaknefs than this ? But all this is no more than is abfolute- towards Sinners. 159 ly neceffary to bring man back to his right creature-ftate, his primitive no- thingnefs, that he may acknowledge him- felf debtor to the free fovereign grace of his creator, for all he either is, or hopes to be : A hard faying to the vain fons of A- dam; but an abfolutely neceffary one; and no more than every reafonable crea- ture is bound to acknowledge, that the creator is abfolutely matter of his own favours. This point the Apoftle carries as high as it can be : or any other law that could be imagined ; efpecially when a perfect right to life was made out for them, without any pain or labour of theirs : but, as if that had been a fmall matter, and below the dignity of his love, he has chofen to make the convey- ance by an act of adoption, inverting them not only with the rank and dignity, but with all the rights and privileges of fons. . Vol. II, A a an4 i86 Conclusions. Ch.IX, and heirs. This was fuch an effort of love, that the Apoftle John, with all his fkill in language, could not find a word to exprefs it by : he therefore only ap- peals to the effect of it, and fays, " Be- 4i hold, what manner of love the Father " hath beftowed upon us, that we fliould " be called the fons of God," But neither doth the love of God flop here : As it was fingular in its nature, it was fit it fliould be fo in all its effects and iffues. Becaufe man can adopt and bring in a ftranger to be heir to his petty inhe- ritance, he would do what no man, what no creature could do : He would not only give the tide and the rights of fons, but would make them really fo ; which he has done in the mofl effectual manner, by giving the Spirit of his Son to dwell and abide in them for ever, and to form their hearts into the fpirit and temper of belo- ved children, to cry, " Abba, Father.'* And becaufe he knows their childifh folly, how eafily they are impofed on and mif- led, he has put them under the care of one who is every way his perfect image, ]buc efpecially in the tendernefs of love, kindnefs, and compamon, viz. his own bieffed Conclusions. 187 blefTedSon; and of that Spirit he has given. to dwell and abide in them, with all the mighty power of God : fo that it is utter- ly impoifible for all the power of men and devils to pluck them out of his hand. What pity is it, that all this love, fo wonderful in itfelf, fhould be loft ? and loii it will be to us, as if it had never been, unlefs it is known, and believed. And hence faith comes to be the firft duty, and the foundation on which the whole of duty (lands. Where this is, all the command- ments of God appear not only not grie- vous, but eafy, pleafant, and delightful : for indeed they are all of them dictated by perfecT: difincerefted love, purely for* the benefit and advantage of thofe to whom they are given. But where the love of God is not known, and firmly be- lieved, they are not only grievous, but indeed impomble to be obeyed. The A- poftle John lets us into the fecret of this feeming paradox. So long as the love of the world rules in the heart, the ways of God muft be infupportable ; and nothing can turn out the love of the wond, but the love of God fhed abroad in the heart. This is the proper bufmefs of faith; and A a 2 thus iSS Conclusions. Ch.IXo thus it is the vidtory which overcomes thd world. When one has faid, that the faith or believing fo much fpoken of in the record, and which bears fuch weight in the Chri- ftian life, is the very fame which is fo well known in common life, he has faid all that can be faid for clearing the nature of it. The meaneft peafant knows better what it is to believe, than the moft learn- ed philofopher can define it. It can b£ known only by experience. It is an in- ward fenfe, which none can know any thing of, but they who feel it ; and never was any man at a lofs to know when he believed, and when not, unlefs he had been fome how carried out of the plain natural road, and made to imagine that faith is fomething he knows not what, tior how it is to be performed* What the Chriftian is called to believe ? is another queftion, and a very proper one. And the anfwer is obvious : It is the record of God ; or, what we were juft now obferving, is in a fpecial manner the refult of the whole, viz. " That God is " love," or the love that God hath to us. This gives occafion to another very proper que- Conclusions. 189 queftion, How do we, or how fhall we know that ? And the anfwer is as obvious : By the evidences he has given of his love in the fafts we have recorded, and by his ways with mankind there fet before us ; the very fame way by which we know and believe the love which men have to us. I have marked out the principal ones^ the great lines, fo to fpeak : but there are a great number of fubordinate ones, viz. his ways with particular men in particu- lar cafes ; which fome call trifling, and below the dignity of hiftory. But the re- cord is not made to give a hiftory of men, or of the affairs of this world ; but to re- veal the creator of it, and to lead us into fuch views of him as may reconcile us to him, and endear him to us. And therefore it muft be obferved, that the fadls recorded there are not matters of pure fpeculation, for the improvement of our minds, but benefactions and promi- fes, which demand fuitable acknowledge- ments for the benefits already received, and dependence on the promifer's faith- fulnefs for what is further promifed. This is well known among men by the terms of trujl'mg and depending on one another's word, xgo Conclusions* Ch.IX. Word. And to talk of believing a promife which does not imply this, is really talk- ing contradictions ; and to fay we believe the promife perfectly, while we entertain any doubt or wavering about the perform- ance of it, is very little better. Juft fo much full affurance as there is of the truth and faithfulnefs of the promife, fo much aflured confidence will there be in God ; and fo much as there is of this confidence, fo much faith, and no more. So that there can hardly be a groffer miflake than what many indulge themfelves in, That their want of affurance is their unhappi- nefs, but not their fin. Juft fo much of doubting as there is mixed with faith, fo much is there of unbelief; and in propor- tion to that, fo much there is of fufpicion andjealoufy, that God may be a liar, or at lead that his faithfulnefs may fail, which is nearly allied to it. It is further to be obferved, that what- ever indignities of this kind are offered to the God of truth, they always in the end recoil upon ourfelves. Whatever jealou- fifs, fears, and mifgivings of heart, are iurFered to mix with our faith, they fo far weaken our knowledge and belief of the love Conclusions, 191 love of God to us ; and confequently fo far break the force of the impreffions it would otherwife make upon our hearts, and deaden our acknowledgements and returns of love to him, which it is' in the very nature and intention of faith to make fo deep and ftrong, as to form the heart ; that is, the inward fentiments and feel- ing of the foul upon it ; to plant the love of God there, and to make it the ruling principle, which, according to the mea- sure of its perfection and ftrength, forms all the affe&ions and paflions, and, of courfe, the whole converfation, into a conformity and fuitablenefs unto the go- fpel of Chrift. And thus it is that faith becomes the vidtory which overcometh the world, as it difcovers the vanity and emptinefs of it, which can never be fully perceived, but in the light of the glory of God mining in the face of Jefus Chrift. The love of God, and the love of the world, can by no means ftand together in the fame heart, any more than one man can ferve two matters . And even in this light, love may juftly be faid to be the fulfilling of the whole law, as it effectually deftroys the root %<)Z Conclusions. Ch.IX, root from which all fin fprings, and breaks the force of every temptation, which are all taken from a prefent world ; and particularly all thofe feparate interefts which make men hateful to, and hating one another, and are the fund and fuel of all the evil and mifchief which is or can be in the world. ( Where the love of God rules in the heart, it natively extends it- felf to every perfon and thing that has a- ny relation to him. The man muft, if he acts in character, walk in love, as Chrift alfo loved us, and gave himfelf for us. And on this it is that the commandment of loving and blefling our enemies is molt flrongly founded. But there is another light in which it is yet more directly the fulfilling of the law, viz. That all the duties we owe, to God^ to the Father, the Son, or the Spirit, are in- cluded in it ; for the duties to each of them are as diftinct as they are from one another. In fhort, whatever duties we owe either to God or our neighbour, are no more but the native actings and exercifes of love ; which* where-ever it is in fincerity, would cer- tainly exert itfelf in that precife manner whicl), Conclusions. 193 which the commandments of God direct and bind us to. And thus we may fee what reafon the Apoftle had to fay, that " in Chrift Jefus " neither circumcifion avails any thing, " nor uncircumciiion ; but faith, which " works by love." Faith leads the way; and by taking in the views we have given us of the love of God in Chrift, firft works love, and then works by it. Thefe two make up the fum-total of the Chriftian life. And, which is very remarkable, nei- ther of them is in our own power. We can neither believe, nor difbelieve, what we will, or when we will, but as the evi- dence conftrains us to the one or the o- ther. And as little can we love or hate, but as the objedl appears amiable, or o- therwife. The Apoftle ftates the Chriftian life as it is : " We all with open face, be- " holding as in a glafs the glory of the Lord, are changed into the fame image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." If any mall afk, how we come by the fight of this glory ? our Lord tells us, it is by the manifefta- tion he makes of himfelf ; and that he does it in a way which the world neither Vol,. II. B b do tc tc 194 Conclusions. do nor can perceive : " God, who com- " manded the light to fhine out of dark- " nefs, {nines into the heart, to give the " light of the knowledge of the glory of " God in the face of Jefus Chrift." And, upon the whole, the life which the right Chriftian lives in the iieih, is by the faith of the Son of God, who loved him, and gave hirnfelf for him. The Chriftian's life lies wholly in Chrift ; it is by faith in him that he lives : and thence it is that he fets forth hirnfelf fo warmly to the Jews at Capernaum, as the bread of life, the proper food and nou- rifliment of the fpiritual life, and the on- ly way in which a Chriftian can live. It is the way, the only way, which God has appointed ; and therefore the only way which he will blefs. To attempt to live in any other manner, (as many fuch are made), is really to attempt to live whether God will or not. All the life, and all the powers of life, that God ever defigned for any of mankind, are lodged in his Son's hand : and thence the Chriftian muft have his daily portion and fupply. It is not in any natural or acquired perfection, nor e- ven in any or all the gifts of grace they have Conclusions. 195 have received, or may receive, that his ftrength lies ; but in the grace that is in Chrift jefus : and however weak and in- fufficient he is in himfelf for any thing, he can do all things through Chrift ftrengthening him. This grand truth the Apoftie Paul was taught by our Lord himfelf on a particu- lar occafion : " My grace," faid he, " is " fufficient for thee;5' which produced what appears a great paradox in principle, That " when he was weak, then he was " ftrong;" and another as great in prac- tice, to glory or boaft of his weakneff- es and infirmities : but both founded in. folid wifdom ; bccaufe Chrift' s ftrength is perfected in weaknefs ; and thence arifes his glory. And thence this gives rife to another feeming paradox of the fame kind, viz. That to a right Chri- ftian no duty is either more eafy or more difficult than another. As he is in him- felf, and by the ftate of his own powers, he is no match for the eaiieft duty ; for our Lord has faid, " Without me ye can " do nothing : " but to the grace that is in Chrift Jefus, and the ftrength derived from him, all duties are equally eafy. B b 2 I ig6 Conclusions. I conclude with juft obferving, That where the foundations are thus laid in Chrift, and the foul rooted in him by faith and love, there needs to be little an- xiety about being built up in him in all the exercifes of holinefs and good works. The man that abides in him, he himfeif hath affured us, {hall bear much fruit. The great deceiver knows this well ; and there- fore his main attempts have ever been made to draw off the Ghriftian from his ftrength, and then he is fure to have him at his will. If the Ghriftian is wife, his attention will be conftantly fixed on this capital point, on which all depends. The Apoille John's direction was dictated by the trueft wifdom : " And now, little chil- dren, abide in him ; that when he ihall appear, we may have confidence, and " nor. be aihamed before him at his CO- tc c< -, mmg, The 197 The Christian Life; O R, Dissertations on Galatians ii. 20. / am crucified voith Chriji : neverthelejs I live ; yet not I, but Chriji liveth in me : and the life I novo live in the fiejljj I live by the faith of the Son of God, vuho loved me^ and gave himfelf for me. INTRODUCTION. IT is with peculiar fignificancy that the kingdom of our Lord, and the things pertaining to it, are fo often called a tnyjlery by Chrift and his apoftles ; not in- deed in the fenfe which fome have affixed to that word, as if a myftery were a thing altogether unintelligible ; but as denoting fome thing fo fecret and hidden, that the men of the world, the wifeft not excepted, know not what to make of it : and the propriety of the expreffion, when applied to the gofpel in this its genuine meaning, is too fully illuftrated, by the treatment which 198 The Christian Life: which the gofpel hath met with in the world. How generally has it been reject- ed, not only by the ignorant bigotted vulgar, but even by thofe who have been reckoned the mod learned and wife ? And among thofe who profefs their belief of the gofpel in general, how few receive it, until they have moulded it into a fuitable- nefs unto their own preconceived notions and apprdienfions ? Whence has arifen that multitude of feels and parties, each of them having a peculiar fcheme of Chri- ftianity, which yet they all pretend to found upon the fame authority. There is indeed a my fiery in the king- dom of heaven, and the whole conducfl of it. It is itfelf a fecret of fuch a nature, that the wifdom of man, improved to the higheft poffible pitch, could never have difcovered it : and when it is brought to light, as it is in the gofpel, it continues a fecret in a great meallire to ail that know it only by report and hearfay. ChrifVs kingdom is not of this world : it belongs to another, a fpiritual and invifible one, which can never be brought under fenfible obfervation ; the inhabitants whereof are all of the fame nature. The fouls of men are Int. DhTertations on Gal. ii. 20. 199 are the only part of them capable of any correfpondence with that fpiritual world : and buried as thefe at prefent are in flefh, ftrongly connected with this material world, and formed upon the ftate and ap- pearance of things here, they are extreme- ly unfit for it in all refpects. It is this which makes the accounts of that world, and the way of living which belongs to it, even when conceived in the mod proper and expreffive terms, appear a myftery, a perfect riddle, to the inhabi- tants of this earth ; as they can affix no meaning to thefe terms, until they have adjufted them to their conceptions, as metaphors and bold figures ; by which means, they all may be, and often have been, explained away, not only into ano- ther meaning, but one directly contrary to the plain import of the words. And to give a colour to this fhameful licence, we are told ftrange ftories of the extravagan- cies of the eaftern languages, as fo over- run with hyperbolical affectations, that nothing can be made of them, until they are brought down to common fenfe and plain expremon : Language, one mould think, not very refpectful to the divine * wifdom, 2oo The Christian Life: wifdom, which, we may fay without of- fence, knew as well how to adjuft expref- fion to the matter, as the mod fedate and fagacious of our modern philofophers. In the account the Apoftle Paul here gives of himfelf to the Galatians, where he intends to fet before them a ftate of the Chriftian life, we have one of the moft e- minent inftances of that myfterious way of fpeaking. That Apoftle, we are fure, was able to fpeak as intelligibly as any man ever was ; and in ordinary cafes, e- vidently did fo. Nay, he values himfelf upon it ; and even boafts of his ufing great plainnefs of fpeech in thefe things, and fuiting the exprefhon to the fubjeit in hand ; and was thought of God to do it with fuch exacflnefs, that he afferts with great boldnefs, That if his gofpel was hid to any, it was a fure fign that the god of this world had blinded their minds to their eternal perdition, 2 Cor. iii. 12.; iv. 1. 2. 3. And yet in this one verfe he has no fewer than three expreffions of this kind, the ftrongeft that are any where to be found in the Bible ; fuch only excepted as are ufed to the fame purpofe, and per- fectly of a piece with them, by this and the Int. Differtations on Gal. ii. 20. 20 1 the other apoftles, and by our Lord' him- felf before them, viz. That he the ftate of mankind was fixed. Death was entailed on them, and all that ever ihould derive life from them ; and they were left in the fame condition into which at prefent we either do or may feel ourfelves funk ; cut off from all acquaintance and commerce with the fpiritual world, and no way of accefs left until it is reftored irr Chrift ; confined to the creature, and con- demned to pick up fuch a pitiful fubfiftence as this world can afford us ; which yet plea- fetfe- Int. DifTertations on Gal. ii. 20. 2 if feth us perfectly : A mod convincing evi- dence that we are fit for nothing elfe. We fhould have been, perhaps, for ever at a lofs whence this incapacity proceeded, and have made, as many have done, a great many filly gueffes about it, had it not been for the way in which we find it cured, and the fpiritual life reftored, viz. The gift that is made of the Holy Spirit, as a new inward vital principle, and the fpring of all fpiritual powers. This marks the diflinguifhing character of this kind of life ; and will be found the only way whereby God communicates himfelf, and manifefts his glory ; and we may fay, the only way whereby he can do it to fuch creatures as we are, in the condition wherein Adam hath left us, And thofe who feel the effed:s of the Spirit will foon t>e convinced, that all the darknefs and incapacity we are under of finding any pleafure in God, was owing to the want of it. And now, if any ihould afk, as ig- norant and fooiifh men will always be afking impertinent queftions, How is it confident with the juftice and goodnefs of God, to take away his Spirit, and thereby • E e 2 render^ !22o The Christian Life: render a whole fpecies of creatures mifera-? ble for the fault of one ; whom they had no further concern in, than that God him- felf had made him their common parent, and fet him at their head ? the anfwer is ready, What if God had never given his Spirit, either to him or them, and left them juil fuch animals as they are ? What if he had given his Spirit for a time, and taken it away without any fault at all ; who durft have faid it was wrong ? But when we have this Spirit, by a ftanding conftitution^ conveyed to all who will re? ceive him ; and conveyed in a way, as much preferable to the courfe of natural generation, as the bleffed Son of God is to Adam, and the glories and joys of hea- ven are preferable to his paradife; how; perverie muft die fpirits of men be, who will find fault with a provifion, which brings man as near to God as it is poffi- ble a creature, even the higheft and molt excellent, can be ? In that intermediate ftation, wherein - the Spirit of God abides in the Chriftian, while yet he continues in the flefh, the bod) he derived from Adam; we have the two very u liferent lives derived from the Int. DifTertations on Gal. ii. 20. 221 firft and fecond man, fubfifting in fonie fort together in the fame perfon. The foul of man, onee dead to God and the fpiritual and eternal world, buried in fenfe, and enflaved to all fenfual and worldly lufts, cravings, and appetites, now refto-r red to its proper life by Jefus Chrift, be- comes capable of its proper bufinefs, to live as a fpirit mould do ; while yet A- dam's life remains in thefe bodies, and all the bafe and low appetites and parhons belonging to it, never to be rGCted out, until thefe corruptible bodies put on in-r corruption, and mortality be fwallowed tip of life. Thus, then, the cafe ftands : By our firft birth, as children of Adam, we are born into this world, and good for nothing elfe; by the Spirit reftored in the new birth, we are brought into the fpiritual world; and become the children pf God by Jefus Chrifc. But our relation to the firft Adam, and our connections with this his world, are never broken, un- til thefe bodies return to the cluft, from which they were originally taken : and when thefe fhall be raifed up, and not till then, the myftery of God will be finirhed in their perfedi union with, and conforr mity 222 The Christian Life : mity to their glorious head. But juft fe far as any man comes to be united and a- live to Chrift, juft fo far is he disjoined from and dead to Adam. And as our Hefted Redeemer is not on- ly the author of eternal falvation, by ful- filling the terms of life, and thereby loo-^ iing the bands of death, nay, the fprings the fountain, and beftower of it ; but like- wife the pattern to which we muft be con- formed, fo as not only to live as he does^ but enter into it the fame way alfo ; hence we may fee the true fenfe of our Lord's words, upon which all the reft are founded, " Denying one's felf, taking up " our crofs, and following him." I know not how felf-denial, and taking up the crofs, have been dwindled away into that poor low metaphorical fenfe in which they are generally taken. Moft certainly it is fomething more than refufmg to gratify, or crofting this gt the other corrupt appe- tite, or even fuch as are not {imply un- lawful, and bearing the afflictions and di- ftreffes that God in his providence fees fit to order in their lot. Thefe are indeed the duties of Chrift's difciples : but deny- ing themfelves, and taking tip the crofs. arc frit. DifTertations on Gal. ii. 20. 22^ are their entrance into that relation. The child of Adam (lands, almofl in all re- fpecls, oppofite to the child of God : at leaft the life of Adam, with all that be- longs to it, ftands fo to the life of Ghrift. This is indeed the man's very /elf; and nothing can make one a difciple of Chrift, but bringing this felf to the crofs,the inftru- ment of death, renouncing it for ever, as what he mud have no more to do with, and enuring to follow Chrift, with an ab~ folute dependence on him for all, where- ever he is pleafed to lead. This will, I hope, appear, with abun- dant evidence, from the confideration of the Apoftle's prof emon here? which, in-, deed, is no more than a defcriptioii of his own compliance with • thefe our Lord's ferms of difcipleihip. For, First, He had perfectly denied him- felf, and taken up his crofs :■ lam crucified^ faith he, with Chrijh Thus he followed him in his death. And being conformed unto him in that firft ftep, Secondly, He followed him in his re- mrre6lion. Though he was crucified, yet he lived: He was not left in a ftate of death. It was his old man only that was crucified, and 224 The Christian Life: and the life he had from Adam that was put an end to by his death. He had ano- ther life in exchange, and an incompara- bly better one, the life of Chrift, by which be was quickened with him into a new man; which yet he defcribes fo as to give C irifr the whole property in it. It was of fiich a nature, that it was not fo much he that lived, as Chrift that lived in him. That is the Ghriftian's life, the life of the new creature. Thirdly, He defcribes his way of li- ving in this new ftate : He lived in the fieJJj^ the body he derived from Adam. That he ftill carried about with him, as all the chil- dren of God do until death fet- them at li- berty : but yet he lived not after the flefh, as Adam's children do ; nor could he in that filiation walk by fight, as the glorified f hall do in their heavenly (late ; but, as one who had his heart and all his inter efts in the imfeen world, the life he lived in the fiejhy cw>as by the faith of the Son of God. — '• — In the * Fou rth and laft place, He concludes his account with the diftinguiftiing adling and exercife of true faith in Chrift, by applying his love, and the blefled fruits of it, in giving himfelf for his people, particularly to DifT. I. Differtations on Gal. ii; 20. 225 tohimfelf: Who loved me, and gave, him felf for me. &nd if we can but make out any- thing of a diftinct account of tlieie four particulars, I believe we ihall have before us a very fair view of the Ghriftian life, as it fubfifts in a prefent world. DISSERTATION L / am crucified ivith Chrift. WE begin naturally where the Apoftle doth, with the only way by which a child of Adam can enter into this life, viz. by being crucified 'with Chrift. And here we muft, in the firft place, carefully examine the import of the Apo- ftle's expreffion ; and then it will be cm Adam, if it have any meaning at all ciiiferent from natural corruption, is the very thing we fpeak of. The life ancj poWers - the man are his very nature, and make him what he is, the child of A- dam', or the child of God, as they come either through Adam, or through Chrifi j and the whole difficulty arifes from the? want of diftinct apprehenfions, both of the one and the other ; efpecially of thq Chriftian life, as it fubfifts in this world. It is of a hidden nature, both as it is fpi- ritual, and as it is in a peculiar manner *' hid with Chrift in God ;" hidden abfolute- ly from the men of the world, the wifeft and moft learned of them; and in a great ©iff. I. DiiTertations on Gal. ii. 20. 229 great meafure hid from thofe who live by it. Hence it is, I am afraid, very com- monly imagined, that the life which Chrift has to beftow, is no more but the resto- ring, and lengthening out to eternity, the life which was given to Adam, and by him conveyed to us ; the new creature no more but the child of Adam purged from his natural and acquired corruptions and bad tempers ; and that all that is fpoken of their being " born again," " born of " the Spirit," " begotten and born of " God," " having the feed of God abiding " in them," with many more fuch high- founding defcriptions, mean no more than a pompous defcription of a man's turning from fin to righteoufnefs, and from feek- ing happinefs in the creature to find it in the creator. And thence have arifen all thofe fchemes of religion, very falfely call- ed rational, which make it fo eafy a mat- ter, that every one may be a Chriftian when he pleafes. Mean while it is. an agreed point, (and agreed, I believe, only becaufe it is a plain fenfible fadt which will not bear a dif- pute), that the bodies we derive from A~ jlam cannot enter into heaven, until they are 230 The Christian Life : are either entirely diffolved, and reduced to their original duft, or fo changed, as the Apoftle fays theirs will be who are a- live at the laft day. Why might not the whole man, the child of Adam as he is, be continued in the pofTeftion of life ? No reafon can be given but one of two ; ei- ther that he was not capable of it, until he was changed, refitted, and new crea- ted ; or that a divine conftitution and or- der flood in his way. All comes to one, which fide foever we take : for is not that the fame conftitution by which it is appointed for all men once to die ? and is not that the fame with the judgement given on our fir ft parents, on their tranf- greflion of the original law, " In the day *' thou eateft, thou {halt furely die?" Surely it ftrikes as ftrongly againft the life of the foul as that of the body. It is true we do not fee the foul die, as wre do the body : and good reafon we do not, when we do not fee the foul at all, neither know wherein its life or death doth lie. But if we did, we would be able to feel it dead ; every man might feel it by his in- ward fenfe, as ftrongly to his conviction,, and even more fa, than he can perceive a body Diff. I. Differtations on Gal. ii. 20. 232 body to be dead. Though we know not what life is, yet we certainly know it comes all from God ; and that indeed no creature can fubiifl a moment in life with- out him, nor in any other ftation or man- ner than he has ordained it. Whenever then the foul of man comes to be cut off from the fountain of life, or, which is the fame thing, deferts the ftation and way of living God has allotted, die it mult. This is no metaphyseal refining : whoever pleafes may bring it to the only teft of truth, in which all demonftration terminates, the inward fenfe and feeling of the man. The creature muft be con- cluded deacL, when all its vital actions and operations ceafe : when a fpirit can nei- ther perceive, nor reliih, nor have any commerce with fpintual objects, nay not io much as with the Father of fpirits, w^here is its life ? We have no more to do then, to be fully fatisfied whether our fpirits are alive or dead, than to try what we can make of God, or the fpintual and eternal world, and what pleafure we can find there. Evidence enough we have that we are alive to this world : but not more than of our being dead to God. The verv 232 The Christian Life : very fentence, condemning man to this life, effectually declared him deprived of the other. And as men have lived fo long alive to this world, and dead to God, what mould hinder them to live alive to God, and dead to the world, in. the mofl proper and native fenfe ? 2. And this leads us to confider what the Apoftle aflerts concerning the man thus made fpiritually alive in Chrift, viz, That he is crucified^ and crucified ivith Chrift. And if we can get to the right un- derftanding of this, it will fully clear what we have faid on the other head. And in whatever fenfe we take it, there are two things evidently included in it, \fti That we are fome how joint part- ners and partakers with Chrift in his crofs and crucifixion. And, 2d!y, That fbme how or other we are made conformable unto him in his death and fufferings there. And both thefe are fo plainly taught hi the New Teftament, that there is no room left to difpute either of them ; nor do I think it was ever difputed, even by thofe who have in the moft notorious manner muffled Chrift out of Chriftianity. And DifT. I. DifTertations on Gal. ii. 20. 233 And as he is evidently the principal and chief in both thefe views, and they who are faid to be crucified with him, are no more but acceflbries, we muft, in the firft place, confider Jefus Chrift as crucified in his own proper perfon ; and this will open our way to the true and diftincft appre- henfion of the others in all the views we can take of them. This is laid down in the New Teftament as the great fubjedt of what is there called the gofpel\ and is ftricftly and properly f o ; the glad tidings of the promife made to the fathers, from the foundation of the world, being actually fulfilled unto their children in his perfon. Thus the Apoftles preached him firft to the Jews ; and thus we find the Apoftle Paul declaring he preached him to the Gentiles, 1 Cor. xv. 3. " I delivered unto you firft of all, that " which I alfo received, how that Chrift " died for our fins, and rafe again the " third day, according to the fcriptures." And indeed the whole fcriptures are no more but the record God has. ordered to be made concerning his Son ; in fo much that this great Apoftle, who certainly un- derftood his bufinefs as well as any man ever Vol, II. G g did* £34 ^"ne Christian Life: did, was determined to know nothing -but cc Jefus Chrift, and him crucified," i Cor. ii. 2. Nay, he counted all things but lofs •and dung for the excellency of that know- ledge : and particularly in the view we have now before us : " To know him, and " the power of his.refarxection, and the " fellowship of his fufferings, being made " conformable unto his death ; " Philipp. iii. 10. And here we have him defcribed to us by the title which he was known and dif- tinguiihed by among his difciples and fol- lowers, but .difputed by the unbelieving Jews, Chrift, or the anointed of God : A title well known in that nation ; and by which the promifed feed was diftingurihed from all others, who were either typically or occafionally anointed ; if there were a- jay inch, either kings, priefts, or pro- phets, who were not, in forne view or o- ther, types, or figurative reprefentations of him. This defignation, therefore, will lead us into ail that is recorded concern- ing him, either in the Old Teftament or New; the promifes, prophecies, types, Shadows, or images, "which preceded his birth 5 and the whole hiitory of his life, death. DifT. I. P:/r~r cations on Gal. ii. 20. 235 deaths refurreclibn, with all the glory- that Followed ; his perfon and qualifica-' tions ; the character which he bore ; the truft committed to him ; and the place he holds; the execution of t^iat truft, parti- cularly in his death and fufferings on the crofs; the intention and eiFedl of it; and the iflue and event of all in his kingdom and glory. This, it is eafy to fee, is a very large field, and would require a long time to fnrvey it but very fuperficially. It is a ftudy which will fully employ the longed life; and a fubjec~t which will ne- ver be exhanfted through all the ages of eternity. But to let us irito the iiiDjedt before us, it will be neceftary to point to thofe feveral views of him in which the foundation is laid, both of our conformi- ty to him, and participation with him, in his death. And, (1) We muft confider the perfon who was crucified ; who and what he was : A point that the r^ie knowledge of Chriit al- moft entirely ; id| on. And this leads us to the consideration of his hiftory ; ho w he was born Hd r he lived, and how be died. Thefe include the whole hiftory of common men : but as all thefe were ex- G g z traorcUnary 236 The Christian Life: tradrdinary in him, they lead us up many ages, to the very beginning of the world ; nay, and if we coniider him attentively* we will find him fet up from eternity* and that his life and death are but an in- troduction to his hiftory ; and we {hall find him living and reigning for ever and ever, without any end of his dominion. Thus he was fpoken of before he made his appearance among men; and every tit- tle of it has been fulfilling hitherto, fo far as the times are pafTed ; and we are well aflured, that not one tittle of it fhall fall to the ground, until all be fulfilled. His outward appearance, while he was in this world, was, in all refpects, like that of other men : he was born, and grew up, and lived for a confiderable time with- out being at all taken notice of; except by fome few who were upon the fecret of his birth, and were taught of God to acknow- ledge him in his early infancy. And even after he entered on his public character ^ he continued to live in the fame low mean way in the world's accounts, defpifed and rejected of men; until, at laft, after much contempt put upon him by thofe who were at the head of affairs, the great and the wife DifT. I. DifTertations on Gal. ii. 10. 237 wife men of the world, he was fpitefully and malicioufly brought to death as a ma- lefactor ; though, in the whole courfe of his life, he was never found guilty, either of faying or doing a wrong thing. But it was not in mere innocence that his merit lay : for a courfe of years in which he appeared publicly, he went a- bout doing good both to the fouls and bodies of men ; and with fuch earnefl in- tenfenefs, that he facrificed to it his own eafe, quiet, and even the neceffary fup- ports of life; with fuch condefceniion, that he never fent any one away without the errand they came upon ; and with fuch fuccefs, that no difeafe or ailment, either in body or fpirit, ever proved too hard for him. With a word he command- ed away all manner of difeafes and de- fects ; even the devils, and death itlelf, o- beyed his orders, and quitted their prey. As it was a plain cafe, that no man could do fuch works as thefe, unlefs God was with him, the loweft that could be thought of him, was his being a teacher fent from God. But when his miraculous birth, and yet more miraculous death, came to be compared with his refurredion, and a- fcenfion 238 The (Christian Life: fceriiion to heaven ; and when the divine power he was there poffefled of, appeared by the fulfilment of the prdmife he had made his difciples, of fending the Holy Spirit, this finifhing evidence ratified the account he had given of himfelf ; and the higheft of his pretenfions, to be the Chrift, the Son of the living God, which the thoughtlefs Jews reckoned blafphemy, appeared to be the very truth; And this carries one's apprehenfions of him to a height which no man, at leafl in our prefent ftate of imperfe&ion, can form any tolerable notion of, viz. That he was a perfoii truly divine ; not in that low trifling fenfe in which it has been igno- rantly attributed to men, but as one in whom God truly and properly dwells ; a man aflltmed into fo near, and even an eP- fential uriibri with the Deity, that he comes to be pofTefTed of all divine power and perfection ; to have life in hirnfelf, e- Ven as the Father hath; and accordingly to be honoured of all as he is : a man who is, in all refpedts, fet at the head of the whole creation of God, with all power in heaven and earth, all judgement, and the very Spirit of God, with all his gifts and fulnefs Diff. I. Differtatioris on Gal. ii. 20. 239 fulnefs committed unto him. Such was the Jefus who was crucified ; never defti- tute of power to effecT: what nothing lefs than divine power could ; and yet conder fcending tp forrows and fufFerings, fuch as the loweft and bafeft of mankind would not fubmit to without the utmofl neceffi- ty. , Such an extraordinary perfon acting in fuch an extraordinary manner, is the mofl fenfible document that can be given of a defign, much above human wifdom to contrive, or human power to effecT:, And this leads, (2) To confider him in his public cha- racter, the place he holds in the univerfe^ and the purpofes he was defigned to an- fwer there. And great things we find fpoken of his relation to, and influence upon, the whole creation of God ; as by him all things were made, and are Hill upheld by the word of his power, as the chief of the creation of God, and the head of princi- palities and powers. Thefe dignities and royalties of his deferve our mod ferious regard, and are a very conliderable part of that glory which belongs unto his name. But as he has condefcende.d more imme- diately to unite himfelf with the fons of Adato. 240 The Christian Life: Adam, and even to become one of them, it is in this view we have him fet forth in the gofpel evidently crucified before us, and are therefore in a particular manner interested in him, beyond any other order of beings. And thus it is that we are call- ed in a fpecial manner to confider him. The title he has afTumed upon this oc- cafion, and by which he has chofen to be known among men, the Meffiah, the Chrijl, the Anointed, carries in it a fpecial defig- nation to fome office or bufinefs, and full authority and power for the difcharge of 'what belongs to it. This we could not have known with any tolerable certainty, had not God led us to it himfelf by parti- cular inftitutions, plainly defigned to fup- niih us with an image, whereon we might form our conceptions of it. The anoint- ing certain public perfons under the Ma- faic law, particularly kings, priefts, and prophets, was not only a fymbol of inve- ftiture ; but, efpecialiy when done by the immediate order of God, conveyed a Jpi- rit ; that is, all neceffary abilities for what they were called to. And yet that anoint- ing was but an image, a fort of outward reprefentation ; the oil there being the outward Diff. I. DifTertations on Gal. ii. 20. 241 outward figure and fliadow of that Spirit, which dwells without meafure in the true Anointed. The perfons appointed by the divine law to be thus anointed with t)il, lead us fur- ther into the nature of his public charac- ter : and are indeed the only words in hu- man language by which it can be expreff- ed ; including fuch as are either naturally, or by peculiar conftitution, connected with them. Thus he is reprefented to us, as the authorifed interpreter of the divine mind, to reveal to us the knowledge of God, and his counfels and purpofes, fo far as we have any concern in them ; as the great inter- cejfor between God and man, by whom all their mutual communion is managed; and the king by whom they are in God's name ruled and governed. All thefe are com- prehended under one general name of Me- diator : not in the confined notion it is commonly ufed among men, to make peace, and accommodate differences be- tween parties at variance ; but in the moft extended fenfe; as it is by him alone that man can have accefs to fland before God, or receive any thing from him ; life, or any of the comforts and en- joyments of it : and all that was fhadowed Vol. II, Ii h out 242 The Christian Life: out under the particular offices of a king, a prieft, and a prophet, are but the parti- cular branches of this general character. All this fuppofes a fpecial relation to man in his prefent ftate, and appears to have been defigned for his benefit and ad- vantage, and contrived on purpofe to an- fwer all his exigencies and neceflities, and to raife him to that ftate of perfection and glory we have brought under our obfer- vadon, and let fairly before us, in the per- fon of Jefus. Ruined as we were, as to the happinefs of the firft creation, by the mifconducl of Adam, and rendered inca- pable of holding pofTemon of the life we derived from him, we mufl have been held foT^ ever under the power of death, if a proper hand had not been provided to loofe the bands of death, and raife up a r :w creation out of the ruins of the old. It is on this account that Chrift bears the character of a Saviour and Redeemer, of which we have many images in the Old- Teitament record, in. the temporal falva- tions of the Ifraelitiih nation, and petu-? liariy in an ordinance inftituted on pur- pofe for redeeming perfons and inherit- ances in the land of Canaan ; which founds a X>ifT. I. Differtations on Gal. ii. 20. 243 a great part of the New-Teftament lan- guage on this fubjefL Our great Redeemer was abundantly provided with funic ient power to have ef- fected their deliverance from the depths of the grave, and even from hell itfelf. But by the event it appears, that " it became " him, for whom are all things, and by " whom are all things, in bringing many P fons unto glory, to make the captain " of their falvation perfect through fuf- r ferings." And from the beginning of the world, we find all communion with God, in any intercourfe of friendlhip, founded in facriflce, the moil direcl: and fignificant reprefentation of the death of the Redeemer; and which never could have entered into the wildeft imagination but by a divine inftitution. This has laid the foundation of another part of the New- Teftament language, where we have the fame Redeemer fet before us as the great prieft over the houfe of God, by one fa- criflce he made of himfelf, opening the way into the holieft, the very prefence of God, and thence blefling his people in the name of the Lord. It would make too long a digrefiion from H h 2 our 244 The Christian Life: our prefent purpofe, to enter upon a par- ticular application of thefe generals. Some- thing will fall in afterwards. We only ob- ferve, how, in thefe, and all the other views comprehended under them, Chrift bears the character of a public peribn, and {lands at the head of mankind in the new creation, as Adam did in the old, repre- i eating the whole kind ; every individual of whom are virtually in him, as all A- dam's feed were in him. Thus, we find the perfect interceffor defcribed by the A- poftle, Heb. v. 1.2. 3. ; and the character applied to him, viz. " one taken from a- " mong men, and ordained for men in " things pertaining to God." And when the prophet and the king are likewife ta- ken in, as they are in his perfon united with the priefthood, we have the fairefl reprefentation that can be drawn of him in this view. And thus we are led to con- ceive of him in a twofold light ; as repre- fenting his people before God, appearing in his prefence for them, and taking care of their interefts and concerns in all that they have to do with him, either in rela- tion to their prefent or eternal ftate ; and reprefenting God to them, acting towards '.\cni t)iff. I. DifTertations on Gal. ii. 20. 245 them in his name, and making all the bleflings of his kingdom effectual to them; and thus he becomes to them the head of the body, deriving down to every mem- ber, out of the fulnefs which is lodged in him, life, eternal life, ' with all the perfec- tions and powers that belong to it, or which they can ever have occafion for. (3) This naturally leads us into the na- ture of his death, with the ends and .pur- pofes it was defigned to anfwer ; the greateft and mofl aftoniming event the world ever faw. And as it appears by e- very circumftance to have been entirely his own choice, what he could with the greateft eafe have faved himfelf from, but what himfelf tells us he had in his view from the time he entered himfelf among the fons of Adam, it muft therefore de- ferve our utmoft attention. That a man fo nearly related to God, united as he was in fuch a Angular' man- ner to the fountain of life, mould die, is, if duly confidered, the moft unlikely thing that ever fell out in the whole compafs of the creation of God ; fo ftrange, that no- thing but the event itfelf could make one imagine the thing poflible. And if he chojl 246 The Christian Life: chofe to lay down his life, (the only cafe wherein it was poffible for .him to die), that he fhould have ehofen fuch a death as that of the crofs, a death which none but flaves and the bafeft of mankind were ex- pofed to; the mod fhameful, the moil painful, and tormenting death, of all that ever were devifed ; and introduced too with fuch diftreffing circumftances, and previous fufferings, fuch as never another man fubmitted to ; thefe things could by no means happen by chance, or in the courfe of ordinary providence ; and therefore muft argue fome very extraordinary inten- tion. The fingle circumftance of his fpee- dy refurredlion is fufficient to aiTure us of this : that he died only for dying's fake, if we may exprefs it fo ; and that, by his dying, the great defign he had in hand was iiniihed ; as himfelf declared it was, when he gave up his life before nature was exhaufled ; and he might, if he had fo pleafed, continued it longer. There is one fingular circumftance at- tending that kind of death which he chofe, that it was the only one which had a curfe annexed to it by divine inftitution : " Cur- " fed is every one that hangeth on a tree.,r The DhT. I. DifTertations on Gal. ii. 20. 247 The nature and import of what bears that name we have, in many inftances, decla- red, in that law where this inftitution ftands ; it is no lefs than the total and ir- reparable deftruction of that perfon or thing whereon the curfe refts. It is a ihn- tence pronounced by the great fovereign of heaven and earth, which can neither admit of repeal or abatement. Such was the original conftitution by which all man- kind were reduced to the ftate they are now in ; and particularly the neceffity they are under of dying, and giving up the life they derive from Adam ; fo indifpenfable, that it admits of no hope but in a refur- re6ti.on.from the dead. And fuch was the cafe of thofe facrifices which were dehgned for atonements in the typical law ; which were but reprefentations of the only way to eternal life and immortality that the prefent ftate admits of. Thus our bleffed Lord, the only way to life, and the door by which the Iheep can enter, fo as to be faved, and find pafture, is reprefented to our faith as a propitia-* tion for fin, a facrifice, a ranfom, by whom we receive the atonement. All this jis evidently Old-Teftament language, the way 24$ The Christian Life: way of fpeaking that was in ufe among the people who were diredtly under the divine government ; and thence we muft gather the true intent and meaning of them. There we find two great but dif- ferent occafions in which thqy were order- ed. The firft was when the people were folemnly entered into the divine covenant at Sinai. The fecond, on occafion of af- ter offences, which either the whole peo- ple, or particular perfons, might be guilty of. Thefe reprefented the analogous ufe of the death and facrifice of the great high priefl over the houfe of God ; 1/?, to take us off our firft ftanding under Adam, and enter vis into the divine conftitution and covenant of grace under Jefus Chrift ; and, idly, to provide for after failures and tranfgremons in that new ftate. And thus, as the Israelites were ftrongly cau- tioned againft imagining, that either the land of Canaan was their natural birth- right ; or that they entered upon, and kept the poiTefhon of it, by any merit or obedience of theirs ; of both which the annual day of atonement was a continued memorial ; to fay nothing of their paffo- yer and daily facrifices, which, with ail theii DifT. I. Diffeftations on Gal. ii. 20. 249 their other inftitutions, anfwered the fame purpofe : In like manner are thofe who hold the eternal inheritance, reminded and allured in the ftrongeft manner, that it is only by the grant of grace, fealed and ratified in the blood of the Redeemer, that they either enter into, or hold the poffeflion of it. In this light, the whole bufinefs of fa- crificature, which appeared fo extremely ridiculous to the philofophers and wife men of the world, will appear to us the wifeft, and at the fame time the kindeft and moil advantageous inftitution that could poffibly have been given to man ; as it anfwered two of the mod valuable and momentous purpofes they could be concerned in. There was, in the firfl place, a very fo- lemn acknowledgement of the forfeiture^ and an abfolute renunciation of all pre- tentions to life, on any other footing or ground than the free and gracious grant of the creator and great author of life; the only temper that can become a crea- ture, and much more a criminal. And, at the fame time, the appointment and acceptance of the facrifice was the furefl 'Vol. II. I i feal 250 The Christian Life: feal of the grant of grace* as- it was the ftrongeft and moft fenfible afTurance God Qpuld give to man of the fincerity of his in- tenuons, in the promifes he had given of pardon and eternal life. But all thefe were only fhadows, de- signed for no other purpofe, in relation to rnal life, than to lead forward the faith of the worfhippers to him who was the truth and fubftance of them all, and from whom they borrowed all the worth and value that was ever in them. The wifdom and goodnefs of God were dif- played in their utmoft perfection in Jefus Chriftj at once the moft effedtual and en- dearing way of railing mankind to the higheft perfection, dignity, and happinefs, they were capable of; and in him likewife the higheft deteftation of fin was fhown, in the higheft manifeftation of love to the perfon of the finner. Eternal life is to be had, and entered upon, on no other terms than the deftruction of the creature that finned. Our Lord never intended to fcreen the children of Adam from the ftroke of juftice, either by keeping them irom dying, or railing them again into the pofTelTion of the life they had forfeited. He did, upon Diff. I. Differtations on Gal. ii. 20. 251 upon the crofs, for himfelf, and all in whofe name he then adted, renounce and give up the life, and all the powers of it, which he and they derived from Adam, into the hands of juftice, to be utterly deftroy- ed and put an end to. But he had higher views : he had a life in profpedt, by the promife of the Father, in the conftitution of grace, as much above Adam's, as heaven is above earth, or God more excellent than the creature. This he betakes himfelf to, and this accordingly he entered upon at his refurrecflion ; and fo do all that are made conformable unto his death, and have fellowship in his fufferings. And (4) This leads further to obferve, the e- vent and iffue of his crucifixion and death in his refurredtion, and the glory that fol- lowed ; — which finishes the view, and o- pens up all the myftery that appeared in his former conduct ; how, ' ' for the joy " that was fet before him, he endured the *' crofs, defpiiing the ftiame, and has ac- 44 cordingly fat down on the right hand " of the throne of God ; having all power M in heaven and in earth committed into « his hand." Thus it appears, that in all the conde- I i 2 fcenlion 252 The Christian Life : fcenfion he fhowed, in taking upon him the human nature, and humbling himfelf even to the death, he was fulfilling the terfris of eternal life, and fhowing that re- fignation to his heavenly Father's will which became the head of the new crea- tion, recovering a better paradife, by ta- king upon himfelf the burden brought upon mankind by the mifcarriage of their head in the firft ; and thus fhowing him- felf to be in reality, what Adam was only in figure, the true fpring and fountain of life. It is a very impertinent queftion that men who reckon themfelves very wife are ftill afking : Might not God have recover- ed mankind, by making them a free gift of eternal life ? Juft as wife a queftion, as if one fhould afk, Whether he might pot have made men angels, and beafts men. We cannoc fay there is any thing God might not have done, if he had feen fit, except what is inconfiftent with his perfections ; and of that we are very in- competent judges. We will not therefore pretend. to fay what he might have done; but this we may fafely fay, that if he had clone ptherwife, man would not have been the PUT. I. DifTertations on Gal. ii, 20. 253 the creature he is, but of another kind, /knd now that God hath chofen to fet his Son at the head of mankind, and by him to bring them into the neareft relation to himfelf, fuch as no other order of beings, fo far as we know, have to boaft of, we have all the reafon in the world to think it the befl and fitteft, becaufe he has cho^ fen it ; and we are fure it is infinitely bet- ter for us than any other way we could i- magine would have been, in all the views that can be taken of it : and therefore, *as it is the mod infolent prefumption for the creature to fay to the creator, " Why haft " thou made me thus ? " fo it is the mod villanous ingratitude, Xo find fault with him, becaufe he did not leave us in lower or worfe circumflances than he* has done. The truth of the matter is, the whole creation in general, and every fpecies and individual, depend entirely on the divine will and cqnftitution ; they are what God has been pleafed to make them, and high- er they cannot go. All the powers of the tmiverfe united cannot change a plant to an animal, or a mere brute to a man. It is the firft creation-conftitution that determines our prefent ftate, and makes us defcend of Adam, 254 The Christian Life: Adam, as we do, in the courfe of natural generation, and makes it impoffible for a- ny individual to enter another way. And if this be a divine conftitution, that none ihall enter the fpiritual or eternal world but by Jefus Chrift, (and if there be fuch a perfon as Chrift, there is as certainly fuch a conftitution), what room is there left to afk queftions, and put cafes, on this more than the other ? Surely every ima- gination of this kind is as properly re- nouncing God, and attempting to live without him, as ever Adam's aiming to be a God was ; and mufl have the fame e- vent; but fo much worfe than his, as the life we have given and fecured to us in Chrift, is fo incomparably better than that which he forfeited by his difobedience and rebellion ; which, in truth, bears no greater proportion to it than a fhadow does to the fubftance. Our Lord Jefus is the perfon whom God hath chofen, and anointed in the moft folemn manner that fuch a thing could be done ; and in the fame manner has he declared his decree, appointing him the fpring and fountain of eternal life. In him, and in him only, he has declared himfelf well pleafed ; fo that Diff. I. DifTertations on Gal. ii. 20. 255 that there neither is, nor can be, any 0-* ther alternative, but that we either live by him, or perifh eternally. But not to enter any further into fo in- exhauftible a fubjedt, we may, upon this general view of the death and crucifixion of Chrift, be able to form fome tolerable notion of the import and meaning of the Apoftle's expreffion, being crucified Vol, II. Kk how 258 The Christian Life: haw it is their bufinefs he is managing as much as his own : and, in our Lord's cafe, it was in effect their bufinefs only ; for what had he to do with death and fuf- ferings, and efpecially fuch a death as that of the crofs ? Nay, what had he to do with fleih, but to unite himfelf to them, to make himfelf a party with them, and to take their burden and their curfe upon himfelf, to open a way for their deliver- ance from it, that they might be at liberty to enter upon the poffefhon of that fpiri- tual and eternal life which he has to con^ vey to them ? Thus truly and properly they have fellowfhip with him in his fuf- ferings, and are fo far really and truly crucified with him. But, (3) There is yet a nearer concern that Chriftians have in the crofs of Chrift ; as he is not only their reprefentative acting in their name, but their facrifice and at- onement : and one great deiign of that inftitution was, certainly, to lead mankind into proper apprehenfions of their intereft in, and connection with him, in his death and fufferin^s. A facrifice was properly an image and representation of what man ought to have fuffered, transferred, by di- vine t)iff. I. DifTertations on Gal. ii. 20. 259 vine appointment, upon the creature that was offered; and which, by this means, became a ranfom for their lives. It is called a favour of reft y becaufe God acqui- efced and refted in that which was repre- fented there, and at the fame time gave reft to the finner in all refpecfts ; as, after the acceptance of the facrifice, there was no more to give him any trouble. It is hardly pomble to imagine a nearer and more interefting connection, excepting on- ly that real union betwixt Chrift and be- lievers, by which he lives in them. The facrifice is really the man himfelf: it Hands in his room; and all his valuable interefts, the concerns of life and death, with all the comforts and enjoyments of life, are imbarked there. It is eminently fo in our Lord's undertaking : in his death and fufferings he flood under their law ; he bore the curfe of it ; and by bearing, removed what fhould otherwife have bound them under eternal death, without any poffibility of releafe. I only add, (4) Every true Chriftian is a partaker with Chrift, and has fellowfhip with him in his death, by acquiefcing in, and ho- K k 2 mologating, 260 The Christian Life: mologating, approving, and adhering, t6 what he there did in their name ; by which they enter themfelves under his crofs, and ratify for themfelves the renunciation he there made of Adam's life, and all that belongs to it, in the hope of that eternal life, which God hath promifed in Chrift before the world began. Thus they " are c< baptized into his death," " buried with " him in baptifm unto death;" and thus their old man is crucified with Chrift, that the body of fin may be deftroyed ;" they become dead to the law ;" and to complete the whole, " they are crucified to " the world, and the world crucified to " them ;" that though they live and walk in the flefhj they neither live nor walk af- ter it. And this leads us to that other view I mentioned, of being crucified ivith ChriJ{i which the Apoftle elfewhere exprefles by " being made conformable unto his death." Thofe who imagine, that no more is ne- ceffary to make a child of Adam meet to be a partaker of the inheritance of the faints in light, than merely to have his- natural faculties purged from their natural or t)hT. I.- DifTertations on Galfii. 20. 261 or acquired corruption and defilement; and that grace gives no new powers, but only takes off the adherent lets and impe- diments from off the old ones ; or at mod elevates and routes them to their proper heights of perfection : all thefe, of courfe, muft conftruct the old man which is cru- cified with Chrift, to be no more than that body of corruption which is lodged in us ; and which they think they are war- ranted in by the Apoftle's calling it a body of fin and death. And thus (according to them) to be crucified with Chrift^ arid conformed to his deaths is no more than to have our finful lulls and appetites mortified and de- stroyed, and to ceafe from fin as a dead man does ; which, in truth, is only a pompous and lofty defcription of a very common thing, turning from fin to God. So that $ crucifying the old man, with his deeds," and " putting off the old man," and " put- " ting on the new man," and " putting " on the Lord Jefus," are made to mean no more than ceafing from fin, and prac- ticing virtue and holinefs. It is very true that the Apoftle, Rom. vi. 1 1 . applies his difcourfe of the Chriftian's dying 262 The Christian Life: dying with Chrift, in an exhortation which very naturally arifes from it, " to reckon " themfelves dead indeed Unto fin, and alive Ci unto God through Jefus Chrift." And no doubt this is a part of the Chriftian's con- formity to Chrift, which he is in the ftrongeft manner bound to ; but it is not £0 properly conformity unto his death, as the native confequences and effects of it. The Apoftle had laid the foundation of it deep and ftrong in the foregoing verfes : nor will his way of laying it fo much as bear a fuppofition, that one can be planted into a likenefs or conformity unto his re- furre&ion, without being firft planted un- to the likenefs of his death, and then the other naturally follows. And this we can never be faid to be, nay nor fo much as to ratify and hold good what he did for us, but by doing as he did : not indeed by faftening our bodies to a crofs, as his was : that was none of his doing ; but what he fubmitted to, when, according to the determinate counfel of God, he was delivered into the wicked hands of the jews and Romans : Thefe were the doers of it, and not he ; and thefe we have no call DifT. I, Differtations on Gal. ii. 20. 263 call to be conformed to. But whatever he liimfelf did, relating to his crucifixion and death, that we muit do likewife, if e- ver we are planted into a Hkenefs unto him therein. The fame fentiments of the ju- stice and goodnefs of the divine conftitu- tion ; the fame refignation, felf-deiiial, and fubmiffion to the divine will, expreff- ed there; the fame acknowledgement of the forfeiture, and willing fubmiffion to the punilhment ; renouncing and giving up all connection with the forfeited life, to have no more to do with it in any re- fpecl : thefe, and the circumftances at- tending them in the death of Chrift, de~ ferve our mod ferious attention ; as it will certainly be found one day, that there is no way of entering into eternal life but that one by which he entered, and doing for ourfelves what he did in our name. (1) We muft be conformed unto him in the fentiments he had of the divine law ; and particularly, the juftice and goodnefs of that original conftitution, by which we were brought under the prefent circum- ftances we find mankind in, and particu- larly the inevitable necefhty we are under of death. Vain man would be wife, though in 264 The Christian Life: in truth he is born " like a wild afs's colt." And of all his follies, this is the greateft, that he cannot be reconciled to the ftation his creator has allotted him in his world. This is a piece of our firft father's image : he began the foolifh attempt, to make Jiimfelf wifer and happier than God had defigned; and there is hardly any, even the moft ftupid, of his pofterity, who do not flatter themfelves, that had they bu,t things at their own difpofal, they would provide greatly better for themfelves than God has done. Indeed it is no eafy mat- ter to be content to be a creature ; that is, to live entirely by the grace or free gift of the creator, and to be what he is pleafed to make them. Our Lord perfectly knew the prefent unhappy circumftances of man- kind : he knew the worlt of it ; the law they were under, and the curfe which bound them under death. But all this did not hinder him to take part of the fame Heih and blood, and to put himfelf into the very fame circumftances ; to. put him- felf under the fame law, and that very curfe, which is the moft formidable part of it. This was an honourable teftimony given to the juftice and goodnefs of the law, Diff. I. Differtations on Gal. ii. 20. 265 law, and more for the honour of the law- giver than the fpotlefs obedience of all A- dam's race would have been, by how much he was a better judge than they. And until the hearts of men are fubdued in- to the fame fentiments, to confent unto the law that it is good, and be perfectly recon- ciled to it in every part as God has laid it, it is impoffible they can have any part with Chrift : they never will be reconciled to his death, much lefs be conformed un- to him in it. (2) Our blefTed Lord, in the whole of his condudt, efpecially where his obedi- ence was put to the fevereft trial, in his death and fufferings, fhowed the moil per- fect felf-denial, and the mod abfolute, re- fignation to his Father's will. The Apoftle gives him this mofl honourable teftimo- ny, "That he pleafed not himfelf :" and it was juftified through the whole courfe of his life. And when the bitter cup was approaching, though he prayed earneftly, that, if poffible, it might pafs from him ; yet he refigns himfelf entirely to the will of his Father : " Yet not my will, but " thine be done." Every body will readily acknowledge in Vol, IL L 1 - words* 266 The Christian Life: words, that God is wifer than man, and infinitely fitter to judge what mall be the condition of his creatures : but where is the man who will abide by it in practice, and implicitly refign himfelf to the divine difpofal ? To be truly perfuaded, and ho- neftly acknowledge one's felf nothing with- out God ; though, indeed, it is no more than owning one's felf to be his creature ; yet we find in fact is a very uncommon attainment. Men have, I know not how, but very unhappily for themfelves, {tum- bled upon a notion, that God has fo im- parted to them a certain proportion of be- ing, that they can ftand as parties with him ; infiit upon terms ; and not only claim wages, but complain of injuries, when they are not treated as they fancy they mould be. Our Lord knew, and e- very Chriftian knows, that all this is mere imagination ; and though it had been cnce io^ yet life, with all its powers, has been forfeited fo often into the hand of the creator, that it is what they have no title or pretenfions to retain, whenever he ihall fee fit to call for it. They can there- fore have no expectations nor hopes from it : and therefore ought to follow their Lordj Biff. I. DifTertatiorts on Gal. ii. 20. 267 Lord, refigning and giving up themfelves unto his holy; good, and acceptable will, to be what he fhall by his grace be plea- fed to make them, and to be brought into it in what way he has been pleafed to ap- point. (3) Our Lord Jefus, in his death, ac- tually refigned and gave up Adam's life in him into the hands of juftice, to be de- ftroyed by that curfe which refted upon it ; and5 in obedience to the will of God, took upi his crofs, the inftrument of death, when the time appointed by him was come. This is but the confequence of the former two ; and whofoever hath a mind like Chrift's in him, will be fure to follow him in this. A heart reconciled to the law, and refigned to the divine will, mufl behave like a convicted and felf- condemn- ed criminal ; jtiftify the law ; juftify his judge ; and willingly meet the ftroke of death, which law and juftice binds him under, whenever his judge fhall pleafe to appoint. Thus the Chriftian takes up his crofs as Chrift did 3 and, as he did, has that death to which he has devoted A- dam's life always in his eye, as the only thing which can perfectly relieve him from L 1 2 that 268 The Christian Life* that Unhappy relation, and all the wretch- ed confequences of it. This is indeed a hard chapter to the children of Adam, and what none of them can poflibly bear until they are better taught. And therefore, (4) This renunciation and refignation muft be made upon the fam£ principles of faith, and hope of eternal life, upon which our Lord himfelf acfled. L'need not fland to fhow how our Lord exercifed the whole of his felf-denial and refigna- tion to the divine will, throughout every period of his life, as well as in his death, upon thefe principles. He profeffed al- ways to lay down his life, that he might take it up again; John x. 17. If he was lifted up from the earth, he would draw all men after him ; John xii. 32. And he reprefents his death but as a leaving this world, in order to return to his Father's houfe. And indeed he had a ftrong foun- dation to build upon ; the knowledge he had of himfelf, as coming out from the Father, and his Father's irrevocable pro- jnife and grant of the kingdom. The true Chriftian has precifely the fame foundations to build his faith and hope DiiT. I. Differtations on Gal. ii. 20. 269 hope of eternal life upon, in the views he has of the perfon of Chrift, and the pro- mife of the Father, fealed and ratified in his blood. The Apoftle's reafoning is un- exceptionably ftrong : " He that fpared " not his own Son, but gave him up un- " to the death for us all, how fhall he " not with him alfo freely give us all " things?" In this view, to refign and give up the life, and all the advantages of i.t, which we now enjoy, is fo far from be- ing a hardfhip, that it is the only wife thing one can do. It is but changing our holding, or rather a precarious trifling poffeflion in a prefent world, for " an in- " heritance incorruptible, undefiled, and " which fadeth not away ;" fuch as Adam would gladly have exchanged his primi- tive paradifiacal ftate for. It is but re- nouncing Adam, and this pittance of life we have by him, to hold of Chrift, to bear his image, and to {hare his . glory, his honours, his pofTeffions, even his very throne. Rev. iii. 21. "To him that o- " vercometh will I grant to fit with me u in my throne, even as I alfo overcame, " and am fet down with my Father in " his throne." And, (5) In ajo The Christian Life: (5) In this view it may not be reckon-* ed grievous, to renounce and give up A- dam's way of living, with all that belongs unto his world. The Chriftian, when he firft enters upon the crofs of Chrift, can- not indeed immediately go out of this world, as he did ; and therefore, fo long as he continues in the body, his conformity to Chrift is not, cannot be perfected; fomething of a connexion with Adam and his world flill continues. But he reckons himfelf dead indeed unto fin ; he hath crucified the old man, given him to cer- tain death ; he makes it his daily bufinefs to crucify the fleih, with the affedlions and lufts, to mortify his members which are on the earth, and to keep under that body where fin lodges ; he is crucified to the world, and the world is crucified ta him; and accordingly he looks not at the things which are feen, and are tem- poral ; but at thofe things which are not feen, and are eternal. It is a matter of no moment to him, how the world goes with him, or what men think of him 5 his converfation is in heaven ; he is dead to all below; and his life is hid with Chrifl in God ; and he knows, that wb Diflf. I. DifFertations on Gal. ii. 20, 271 when Chrift fhall appear, then fhall he alio appear with him in glory. And now, if what has been faid bedu-* ]y confidered and underftood, we ftial} need little more to aflure us of what we pext propofed to (hew. II. That the only way a child of A* dam can enter upon the Chriftian life, is by the fellowlhip of the fufferings of Chrift, and conformity unto his death ; renouncing, and giving up for ever, the life he derives from Adam, with all that belongs to it. We have already feen how our bleffed Lord laid dpwn the terms of difciplefhip, without which no man could have any benefit by him, viz. that they mud " de- " ny themfelves, take up their crofs, and " follow hini." We have feen likewife how the Apoftle Paul himfelf entered upon the Chriftian life, in a precife conformity with this eftablifhed rule, being crucified nvith Chriji. And this was no Angularity in him beyond others ; for " all that are to expect every- thing from him, and to love him as he would do his own life if he had any other. And this points out to us yet another oppofition between faith on one fide, which is the great and only mean of the Chriftian life, and fenfe on the other. I fay fenfe, for that is the fole principle upon which the children of Adam adl, becaufe nothing can be brought under their obfervation but in this way ; and all that reafon can do, a noble principle as it is, is to make the beft of what fenfe has difcovered. It is not in its nature to make any new dis- coveries ; it can only proceed on fuch dis- coveries as are prefented to it : and thus it is kept groveling on the Surface cf this grofs material world, until faith comes to its relief, and by opening up Spiritual and eternal things, furnifheth it with infinite- ly more noble bufineSs. Upon the whole, we may conclude, O o 2 that 292 The Christian Life: that the only way to become a Chriftian is that which the Apoftle took, to be crucified ivith Chrift. Not only to forfake our for- mer ways and courfes, our oppofition to the laws and commandments of God ; to give over finning, and to turn to God : all this muft be done; but when all this is done, it will not make otie a Ghriftian. We muft, if ever we are fuch, be entered into Chrift, and partake with him in his life : we muft be conformed unto him^ and bear his image. But this we can ne- ver do, without renouncing and giving up all inconfiftent relations and dependen- cies whatfoever. We muft enter into life the fame way he did, by dying to a pre- fent world, and all our connections with it : and that can never be done, but by renouncing and giving up with Adam's life, and his way of living; by acknow- ledging ourfelves to be, what we certainly are, whether we acknowledge it or not, nothing without God, and fomething worfe than nothing, fmners, and impotent rebels againft his crown and dignity ; con- feffing that we are abfolutely at his mercy, and that we cannot enjoy a moment's re- prieve but by grace, pure fovereign grace, as DifT. I. DifTertations on Gal. if; 20, 293 as it is held forth unto us in Chrifl Jefus our Lord. And now let us reflect a little on the view we have been taking of the crofs of Chrifl, as the only entrance into the Chri- stian life. And, 1. It appears, that they are egregiouily miftaken, who count it fo eafy a matter to become a Chriftian that it may be done when they will ; or that they may even ftumble into it, they know not how, or in what way. Our Lord's words exprefs fomething that cannot be put in pradice without the tendered feelings : To deny ones felf ; to be ftript, nay, to ftrip one's felf, at once, of every thing we have to pleafe or value ourfelves upon, even all the pleafares and enjoyments to which we have been accuftomed ; to break off all conformity to and connection with the world ; to renounce the neareft, the dear- eft, the moil affecting relations, poffef- fions, nay, life itfelf ; and to take our ven- ture with Chrift, arid find our all in him : To do as Abraham did on the divine call, when he went out from his father's houfe, his country, and pofTefllons, to a place which 294 The Christian Life: ■which God promifed to fliew him : " Hd " went out not knowing whither he ic went." He knew well what he left; and fo does the man who intends to be a Chriftian ; but what is before him is all a fecret. " It doth not yet appear," faith the Apoftle John, " what we fhall be;" but as Abraham did, fo do all true Chri- flians ; they fet out upon the call of God, and are content to truft themfelves to his leading : " They take up their crofs, and " follow him." Thefe are fuch hard fayings, that the men of the world, the children of Adam9 never have been, and mod affuredly never will be able to bear them : and yet many fuch will needs be called Chriftians; and thence have arifen almoft all the errors and corruptions that have been brought into Chriflianity. To keep themfelves in coun- tenance, they are forced to attempt a coa- lition of the two oppofite interefts, God, and the world ; and to reconcile the love of God with the love of the world ; to graft religion, the Chriftian life, and the hope of immortality, and the world to come, upon the old withered ftock of A- dam's life, and accommodate the grace of the Diff. I. DifTertations on Gal. ii. 20. 295 the gofpel to the old law-plan, making faith and works joint recommendations tQ the divine favour and reward. And thus, while they pretend to take off the difcou- ragements which feem to attend Chriftia- nity, by modeling Chrift' s yoke to their own humour, and making it light and ea- fy, in another manner than ever he in- tended it ; they deflroy its beauty and ftrength at once, and leave it a common lifelefs thing, in nothing different from the common productions of human fer- vice, which never could anfwer the pur- pofes they were defigned for. Our Lord's yoke is indeed eafy, and his burden light. But what makes it fo, is that every thing which the world rec- kon the greateft hardfhip of all, viz. En- tering upon the crofs of Chrift, and throwing off at once every thing that might be a burden, or make the com- mandments of God grievous to us. No- thing can do this but overcoming the world, 1 John v. 4. ; and there is no way of overcoming it, but by breaking our connection with, and dependence on it. By the crofs of Chrift, thofe who are made conformable unto his death, are crucified tQ £96 The Christian Life: to the world, and the world is' crucified to them. From that time none of thefe things can move them. The allurements and terrors of the world equally lofe their force ; becaufe the Chriftian certainly knows he can neither be a gainer by the one, nor a lofer by the other. Nay, and when the world has done its worfl againft him, by deftroying not only the prefent comforts of life, but life itfelf, it then doth him the beft fervice, by ridding him at once of the body of fin and death he groaned fo much under. 2. Here we may fee the divine proceed-? ings with mankind, in an eafy, agreeable^ and confiftent light ; very different indeed from the fanciful views of men ; but fuch as gives the faireft and moll interefting views at once of the boundlefs wifdom and goodnefs of our heavenly Father, and at the fame time of what is the real ftate and condition of mankind, both Chrifti- ans and others, in a prefent world. Much pains have been taken to make the ways of God appear equal to man. Many fuppofitions have been made to clear his proceedings from the imputation of injuftice, or want .of kindnefs to his crea- tures ; Biff. I. Diflertations on Gal. ii. 20. 297 tures : but had men been contented to take God's ways as they are, that is, as himfelf has ordered a record to be made of them, and forborn loading him wifh what it does not appear he ever did, or defigned to do, they would never have needed any of their apologies. From what we have obferved, it appears how kind it was to mankind in general, to put our firfl father into the circumftan- ces in which he was originally placed in paradife ; and no lefs fo, to fuffer him to fall into the condition wherein mankind low are. Had it been otherwife, we liould have wanted the inftrudtive and ~enfible documents of the reality of thofe piritual and eternal things of which thefe vere the figures, and how impoflible it vas for man to live but by God and his jrace. The groundlefs fancies men have :ntertained of that primitive innocence, as f it was the ftate of human perfection ; .nd the regret they exprefs upon the lofs •f it, as the ruin of mankind ; and the >lan they form of man's recovery by Jefus thrift, as a fort of after-thought, to re- rieve the error, or at leaft to fill up the )lank made in the firft creation, and for Vol. II, P p which 298 The Christian Life: which there never would have been any occafion, if man had done his duty as he ought and might have done : thefe, and the ill-founded guefies at what mould have been the condition of mankind if Adam had not fallen, have created all the difficulty ; whereas nothing can be more evident from the divine record, and the facls, as they ftand open to every one's view, than that the whole paradifiacal ftate was no more than a very wife introduc- tion of what the great creator defigned to be the permanent ftate of mankind, where- by they mould be diftinguifhed from all his other creatures. That God defigned this for the perma- nent ftate of mankind, cannot be doubted, when we find, that this, in fadl, is the e- ftablimed order, That men fhould be born, and live, and die, in a prefent world ; but for a greatly higher end than any of the concerns of a prefent life. It was the new creation, to be raifed out of the ruins of this, which God had mainly in view ; and of this Y*Te may be perfectly allured by the perfon he has fet at the head of it, fo infinitely greater than the fir ft man. There the permanent ftate of mankind is fi^ed, in a conformity DifT. I. Diflertations on Gal. ii. 20. 299 conformity and lifcenefs to their glorious head ; to live with him in the perfect pof- feffion and enjoyment of eternal life, where neither fin nor death can enter, nor any of that afflicfting train of cares and forrows which attend them. The ftate of mankind, then, in a pre- fent life, is that of candidates and proba- tioners, if you pleafe to call them fo, for that future ftate. Life and immortality are brought to light in the gofpel ; even the conftitution of grace, publilhed from the beginning of the world, and the firft en- trance of fin and death: and the only point we have to determine upon (a very momentous one indeed) is, whether we will content ourfelves with this life we de- rive from the firft Adam, and chufe to make our beft of the powers and abilities we have ; or renounce thefe altogether, with the life they belong to, and follow Chrift to take our lot with him. And though nothing be truer, than that " with- ' ■ out him we can do nothing;" it is as true, that " we are complete in him, and can do " ail things through Chrift ftrengthening " us." And if there is added a denuncia- tion of the fevereft and mod exemplary P p 2 punifh- 3co The Christian Life: punifhment againft the defpifers of grace, thole obftinate rebels who will not have God and his Anointed to reign over them, who will not live, unlefs they can live in- dependent on God, and, as it were, in fpight of him, in a way that he has decla- red they {hall not live in ; what fault can be found in the whole ? They who will take God's way, and fubmit to his gra- cious conftitution, are abundantly provi- ded for; and thofe who will not, have none to blame but themfelves. But, 3. If it be fo, as certainly it is, that the only way of entering into Chrift's life is by his crofs ; approving and ratifying what he did there in our name, and re- nouncing and giving up the life we derive from Adam, with all that belongs to it; we have before us one fure way of trying the truth of our pretenfions, and a moil ferious call, feconded with the ftrongeft and molt interefting motives that can en- ter into the heart of man, to ma_ke ufe of it with the utmoft ferioufnefs and impar- tiality. It is a matter of the greateft mo- ment ; our all for time and eternity de- pends on it. It is a matter in which mul- titudes without number deceive them- felves, Din". I. DifTertations on Gal. ii. 20. 301 felves into irretrievable deftrudtion ; and yet the cafe lies fo plainly before us, that it is aftonifhing how any one can be de- ceived. But what will not ignorance and partiality do, efpecially when fupported by love to a prefent world ? We have feen how inconfiftent this is with the love of God, which the life of Chrift neceffarily leads to. We will not ftand to enter into particulars, which may be eafily fupplied from what we had occafion to obferve on the import of being crucified with Chrift ^ and the Chriftian's fellouujloip in his fuf- ferings, and conformity unto his death. I only obferve, that there are what they call the loweft marks of grace, which, though well defigned for the relief of weak diftreffed Chriftians, have been moft mi- ferably abufed to the ruin of many. Sure- ly there can be no grace but in Chrift Je- fus ; and unlefs " Chrift Jefus be in a " man," the Apoftle afTures us, he is a, reprobate, 2 Cor. xiii. 5. And if Chrift be in any man, the body is dead becaufe of fin, Rom. viii. 10.; or, in other words, " their old man is crucified with him.;" for they that are Chrift's, have cruci- fied the flelh, with the lufts and afFec- a " lions." ^02 The Christian Life 5» 4w tions. It will not therefore, it cannot, be any mark of grace at all, that men are fo far pleafed with the crofs of Chrift, as to reft their hopes of pardon and eternal life on his facrifice and fufferings. That is, right fo far as it goes ; but if this were .all, Chrift would be made the minifter of fin indeed ; and his crofs, inftead of being the deftruclion of fin, would be an encou- ragement to fin with hopes of impunity ; which is the very odious imputation with which ignorant men load the doctrine of grace ; not adverting, that none can have any benefit by his facrifice, but they who enter into his death, and not only approve of, but join him in, what he there did, renouncing, and giving up for ever, into the hands of juftice, that devoted life they have from Adam, with all the connections and concerns of it ; arming themfelves " with die fame mind which was in Chrift, " when he fufFered for them in the fieih," i Pet. iv. i. What that mind was we have already feen ; and an armour it is of fuch proof, that not the devil and the world combined, with all the natural and contracted corruption that is in us, can poflibly prevail againft it. This is the low- eft Diff. I. DifTertations on Gal. ii. 20. 303 eft mark that can be admitted ; and where it is wanting, we mull be very pofitive, that that condition is not to be refted in ; becaufe our Lord has faid, that without it no man can be his difciple. 4. We have here before us the beft di- rectory ever was, or ever will be, compo- fed for fuch as would be Chriftians in- deed. This is the only door by which they can have admittance; but fuch a door as enters them upon a road, wherein a wayfaring man, though never fo much a fool, cannot pombly err; being put under the conduct and guidance of one who will be fure to give a good account of him at laft. It may be worth while to flop a little to furvey the advantages and neceffity of it. And here, (1) I fay, it is the only way by which one can enter into the way of life. It might be fufficient for proving this, that it is the only way God has authorifed ; and furely it belongs to him to determine what way every creature of his mail fubfift. But we are not left to bare authority. It is the only way whereby one can enter into Chrift, and be made either partaker with him, or conformable to him. It is the 304 The Christian Life : the only way whereby we can get out of our connection with the firft Adam, and that curfe which refts upon his life : that is to fay, it is the only way by which one can get out from under certain and unavoidable death, and be fure of a hap- py refurrecftion. For, (2) If we are planted into the likenefs of Chrift's death, we fhall moll certainly be planted into the likenefs of his refur^ redtion, Rom. vi. 5. And did we know what that was, we mould not only facri- fice that poor pittance of life that we have from Adam, with all that belongs to it ; and all that we can, not to fay expecft. from it, but what we can poffibly enjoy in it, though we were to be made fble lords and proprietors of the univerfe. For though we were pofTefTed of our firft fa- ther's paradife, and perfection there, all thefe are but trifles, things of nothing, when compared with the Chriftian's pro- fpecl : "It does not indeed appear as yet " what we mall be ; but we know, that " when he fhall appear, we mall be like " him ; for we mall fee him as he is." Like Him ! like unto the exalted Son of God ! Who would not deny themfelves, take DifT. I. DifTertations on Gal. ii. 20. 305' take up their crofs, and follow him, on fuch a profpedt ? What a nothing is it we renounce ? What an unfpeakable Weight of glory is before us ? But, (3) Our encouragement doth not all lie beyond the grave, in the world to come; by this we become immediately and di- re6lly difciples and followers of Chrift. It is an entrance into the way that leads to the glory of another world. It is an entrance into him who is " the way, the " truth, and the life." He is the refur- redtion and the life ; and thefe it a(ftually enters the man into. It is the fellowfhip of his fufFerings ; and that makes the fruits of them fure. It is not renouncing life, but exchanging holdings ; to hold of Chrift inftead of holding by Adam ; and exchanging a poor, worthlefs,perifhing life, for the bed, the moft durable, and eternal. It is uniting with the Son of God, and by him with God himfelf, the fountain of all life, and light, and fulnefs ; the higheft honour a creature can be capable of. (4) It is taking part with Chrift, appro- ving and ratifying what he did in our name and behalf ; and thus it is but a piece of common honefty. And indeed, Vol. II. Q^q as 3c6 The Christian Life: as matters fland, we muft either adhere to him, and fland by what he did, or re- nounce and difclaim him, and all part and intereft in him : and, to fay nothing of the madnefs of fuch a conduct, and the dan- ger that attends it, what an ungenerous, bafe, and ungrateful thing is it, to defert the blefled Son of God when he has done fo much for us ! " Ye know the grace of " our Lord Jefus Chrift, that- though he was rich, yet for our fakes hfc became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich." And. when he has acted fo infinitely to our advantage, what can be faid for our negledl, but that there was a price put into the hand of fools ? (5) It is arming ourfelves with the fame mind that was in him. To be of the fame mind with the eternal Wifdom of God is certainly no fmall honour. It is a part, and a very valuable one, of our con- formity to him ; but it is fuch a confor- mity unto him as furnifties complete ar- mour againft all the temptations and trials we can poffibly meet with. It gives the vic- tory over the world at once, making it a dead thing to us, by our dying to it ; and that kills at once all worldly affedtions and lufts which DifT. I. DifFertations on Gal. ii. 20. 307 which war againfl the Spirit. When the world was crucified to the Apoftle, and he to the world, it loft all its charms and terrors at once, and he went on with the fame eafy unconcernednefs under the lofs of all things, as if he had not been in the body. And, (6) to mention no more, This makes all the commandments of God eafy and agreeable ; takes off every weight which hangs upon the foul, prefling it down to the earth, and marring its heavenly con- verfation. It raifes the Chriflian's cou- rage and refolution, by the fafety of his fituation ; as knowing how much greater He is who is with him, than all that are or ever can be againfl him. And thus he goes on, in the prophet Habakkuk's fpirit : " Although die fig-tree fhall not bloffom, " neither fhall fruit be in the vines, the " labour of the olives fhall fail, and the " fields fhall yield no meat, the flock fhall " be cut off from the fold, and there fhall " be no herd in the flails : yet I will re- " joice in the Lord." Nay, when " the " heavens are rolled together as a feral 1, " and the elements melt with fervent " heat, when the earth, with all the in- Q^q 2 " habitants 3o8 The Christian Life habitants of it, are diflblved," he can ftand upon the ruins, and fay, I have loft nothing; ftill I can " rejoice in the Lord, " and joy in the God of my falvation " DISSERTATION II. Neverthelefs I live ; yet not I; but Chrift li- veth in me. WE have, in the foregoing diflerta* tion, been confidering the way which God has appointed, and by which the children of Adam muft enter upon the life of Chriit, viz, their being crucified 'with him ; that is, renouncing and giving lip, as an accurfed thing, the life derived from the earthly man, that the body may return to the dull, according to the righteous fentence pronounced upon our firft father, whereby the prefent condition of mankind was unalterably fixed ; which fentence therefore {hall one day be execu- ted, whether men content to it or not. But as conformity to Chrift in his death includes, among other things, the fame faith and hope which he had ; th^ hope of PiflT. II. DifTertations on Gal. ii. 20. 309 of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, has promifed before- the world began: fo they who are planted into a conform^ ty unto his death, are at the fame time planted into a conformity unto his refur- rection. As they have hope in their death, they are not made afhamed. They have not indeed the fame life reftored which was given up ; that would be but refto- ring them to their former unhappy fitua- tion, and little or nothing to their advan- tage : but they have a life, in all the views that can be taken of it, infinitely better, by which they are entered into that ftate of higheft perfection in Chrift which God defigned that order of creatures for. There is fomething very lingular, but fuperlatively high, in the account the A- poflle here gives of it as he found it in himfelf. It was the life by ivh'ich he lived; and which he was fo perfectly pleafed with, that he counted all that belongs to a pre- fent life, and a prefent world, but lofs and dung compared with it. But at the fame time it was fuch a life that, in proper fpeech, he could not call it his own j he therefore corrects himfelf: 310 The Christian Life: Yet not I. The honour of it was too high for him to ailume. And having thus difclaimed any pro- perty in this life, he defcribes it as it real- ly is, Chrijl liveth in me. And as it is here that the whole fecret of the Chriflian life lies ; if we can but get at the proper meaning of the Apoftle's exprefiion, How Chrijl lives in the Chrijlian, fo as to be allured of the full import and real intention of it, we mall have a fair and confiftent view of the effential and diftinguifhing nature of Chri- ftianity ; which exalts it above every thing that hath ever paffed under the name of religion, and even above that kind of Chriftianity which is to be found among thofe, who though they acknowledge «the New Teftament in general, yet will not fubmit to the decinons and determinations of it, unlefs they are modelled to their own tafte. And here we muft remember to carrv along with us, what we obferved in our entrance on this fubjedl, concerning the nature of life in general, and the feveral fpecies and kinds of it, according to the different powers beftowed by the creator; the DiflT. II. Diflertations on Gal. ii. 20. 311 the different ways of living the feveral ranks of creatures are made for, and the feveral purpofes which they are defigned to anfwer, in the appropriated flations al- igned them throughout the univerfe ; how impoflible it is for them to live, that is, either to maintain or exert their refpective powers, by any other means, or in any o- ther manner, than that which their crea- tor has appointed them ; that while they are alive in one way, they are dead to ali the reft ; and whenever they attempt to fupport themfelves in any other way, and neglect what belongs to their Ration, and the fuftenance that is proper to it, they ftarve and perifli. On this conftitution of things, and what is neceffarily connected with it, depends the variety, the harmony, and order of the univerfe ; and it needs 110 profound learning, or philofophical fkiil, to make it out. Thefe truths ftand not upon ab- ftrufe metaphyfical reafonings, but on plain obvious fads, which fall under e- very one's obfervation. Thus, in the feveral kinds of terreftrial animals, birds, and fifties, every one can fee, that each has what we call its proper element, out 312 The Christian Life: out of which it cannot live ; its different kind of food and fuftenance ; fo differ- ent, that what is life to one is death to another. They all have their dif- ferent powers, or what we call inftincfts ; and what is perfectly eafy for one is ut- terly impoffible to another. We might carry the fame obfervation to the feveral claffes and ranks of the fame fpecies ; man particularly, being determined by no ge- neral inftindl, affords an infinite variety of characters. All this is very juftly im- puted to what we call their different na- tures or conftitutions ; by which we mean, that they are fo made ; and thus we are led up to him that made them thus, and ap- pointed them their feveral conftitutions. It is indeed but a fliort way our obferva- tion can reach ; no further than a prefent world; and no further even there than things are grofs enough to fall under fome of our fenfes. But the reafon thefe fenfi- ble obfervations land us in, extends as far as the creation does; that is, as far as there are any creatures endued with life, or vital active powers. So far as thefe are different one from another, there are dif- ferent conftitutions : and thefe neceffarily lead DifT. II. Diflertations on Gal. ii. 20. 313 lead to different ways of fubfifting and acting. There is a very remarkable divine con- ftitution concerning man, and the man- ner of his fubfiftence, referred to by our Saviour, Matth. iv. 4. " That man fhall " not live by bread alone, but by every '" word that proceedeth out of the mouth " of God." In Deuteronomy, viii. 3. the conftitution ftands thus, " by every outgo- f* ing from the mouth of Jehovah :" A mat- ter of fuch moment, that we find it given as the reafon of a forty years continued mi- racle ; feeding the Ifraelites with manna in the wildernefs, that they might know this truth ; and know it fo as to be tho- roughly confirmed in it by their own ex^ perience. But what occafion, may one fay, for fuch a profufion of miracles in fo plain a cafe ? for though bread is the ordinary fupport of man's life ; yet who is there fo igno- rant as not to know, that the almighty creator can fubfift his creatures without it, and indeed with whatever he pleafes to appoint for that purpofe, as well as man- na ? This is eafily faid, but not fo eafily believed; much lefs depended on when Vql.IL R r one 314 The Christian Life: one is reduced to want bread. But how- ever that is, there was evidently a much higher intention in giving the manna, and likewife the water from the rock, than merely to bring men to live in a dutiful dependence on God for the fubfiftence of a prefent life. It leads us naturally to think of another way of living, and of courfe another way of fubfifting in life, than that which the children of Adam have naturally by ordinary food. It was, as almoft every thing about that people was, a figure, an image, or fenfible repre- fentation, of that life, and way of living, which God had fet up from the beginning of the world in the feed of the woman ; and which, befides all the particular reve- lations of it, he renewed to Abraham, the father of that people, for him and his feedc This intention of the manna, the bread from heaven, our Lord opens at large, John vi. ; and thence the Apoftle, i Cor. x. 3. 4. calls it the fpiritual meaty and the waters from the rock the fpiritual drink ; referring diredlly to Chrift, the great or- dinance of God, for the fupport and maintenance of the fpiritual and eternal life. This DiflT. II. DifTertations on Gal. ii. 20. 315 This general point ftands fo ftrongly fupported by all the views we have given us of Chrift either in the Old Teftament or in the New* and the many ftrong ex- preffions there made ufe of, (fuch as, " our 11 living by him ;" his being " the refurrec- " tion and the life ;" not only as the author of life to his people, but as their life itfelf ), ; that it is not queftioned by any who fo much as pretend to be Chriftians, that he is certainly " the author of eternal falva- " tion to all them that obey him." But as the fubject is fo noble in itfelf, and fuch as we are all nearly interefled in; it ill becomes us to pafs it over with a gene- ral or fuperficial view, when we are fur- nilhed fo plentifully with materials to lead us further : nor can we ever fatisfy our- felves, until we fee how fitly thefe expref- fions are ufed, and particularly this which we have before us, that it is not fo pro- perly the man ivho lives^ as it is Chrift that liveth in him. Here we have three diftindt proposi- tions, which muft all be kept in view, in order to make out the full meaning of the Apoftle's words : 1. That Chrift lives. R r 2 2. That 316 The Christian Life : 2. That this living Chrift is in the Chri- ftian. And, 3. That he lives in the Chriftian in fuch a manner, that it is not fo properly the Chriftian that lives, as Chrift that liveth in him. Our Lord explains the whole in its or- der and connection, in terms very fimilaf to thofe of the Apoftle, John vi. 57. " As " the living Father hath fent me, and I " live by the Father; fo he that eateth " me, even he fliall live by me." — — > Which words plainly import, That Chrift, fent as he is by the Father* lives by him. That Chrift is united to the Chriftian, as food is to the body.- And, That the Chriftian lives by Chrift thus in him, as He does by the father. This carries fomething in k incompre-* henlibly high ; fuch an union with God, the fountain of life, by the mediation of Jefus Chrift, that it is by his ftanding be- tween God and them, clofely and indiffo- lubly united to God on one fide, and to them on the other, that the life of God is conveyed to, and maintained in them, not barelv in that low wav which Tome call DifT. II. Differtations on Gal. ii. 20. 317 call the life of God in the foul of many a fort of conformity unto what they ftyle the moral perfections of the divine nature \ but by a real conveyance of thefe perfections and powers in their proper meafure, in which that divine temper is founded. It may be worth while to confider the matter fomewhat more particularly. And, I. Christ lives, and lives by the Fa- ther. There the foundation and ground- work of the Chriftian life is laid, juft as the foundation of the natural life was laid in Adam ; all that was neceffary for the defigned propagation of either, was laid ready in their refpeclive heads. Both were the pattern, the ftandard upon which all fucceeding generations were to be formed ; and by the provifion made in them, fecu- rity was taken for the conveyance of life reflectively to all that ever fhould {hare in" either, or were defigned in the eternal counfels to do fo. And could we diftincl- ly and fully furvey the life that lies in the head, and the provifion there made, we might fee all that was to follow : but this is a fort of knowledge not made for man ; and it is plain madnefs to attempt it, much 3i8 The Christian Life: o much more to build conclufions upon it, any further than God has been pleafed to riianifeft and reveal it to us. But fo far as he has, we mould be both very ungrate- ful to him, and injurious to ourfelves, if we did not make it our bufinefs to im- prove it to the beft advantage : and as our Lord holds it forth to us as the pattern upon which the Chriftian life is formed, and at the fame time as the bed aflurance we can have of the truth and certainty of it, we mall be much to blame, if, through our negligence, we fall fhort of the in- tention of this kind intimation. There is, without all doubt, a myftery in the perfonal life of Jefus Chrift, as there is in his union with the Father ; fuch as it is impoflible for human apprehenfion to penetrate, any more than to " find out the " Almighty to perfection." When we fpeak of the life of Jefus, we fpeak of a man af- fiimed into, not only the neareft relation to, but likewife the moil intimate union and connection with the eternal God. It is by much too low to conceive of him as a man who hath God dwelling or abiding in him ; though even that carries fome- thing in it inconceivably high \ as, on the other Diff. II. DifTertations on Gal. ii. 20. 319 other h4and, it is abfiird and contradictory to imagine God and man to be fo mixed together in his perfon, and transformed mutually into one another, that there fhould remain no diftindtion. But yet the man has no feparate being or fubiiftence, but in union with the Deity ; and there- fore no feparate life, or any powers and adtings of it. When he was in the world, and nothing but the man appeared to vul- gar eyes, yet he faid pofitively, " that he and ■ ' the Father were one ;" " that he did no- " thing of himfelf ;" nay, cc that he did " whatever the Father did:" and even when lie feemed to be forfaken, and in certain ca- fes, particularly in his temptations in the wildernefs, and his fufferings upon the crofs, was in fome fenfe really forfaken, and left to himfelf; yet was not the union then diffolved 5 he ftill lived by the Fa- ther, even when he laid down the periih- ing life he took up from Adam ; and, we may fay, he never lived fo properly as when he was parting, and efpecially after he had parted with it. And thence it is we find, that the Chriftian's conformity to Chrift is not ftated upon what He was in this world, but upon his death, and re- furre&ion 320 The Christian Life: furrettion from the dead; Phil. iii. 10.; Col. iii. 3. 4. ; Rom. vi. 5. et feqq. ; 1 John iii. 2. ; and every where we find that fub- ject fet before us in this light. Thus, then, the cafe ftands : In God is the fountain of life ; and it is his diftin- guifhing property to have life in himfelf, which can be communicated to no mere creature. But he can communicate life, as he does being, out of the all-fufficiency of his own fulnefs ; that is, vital powers and activity, in fuch various and differ- ent degrees as he fees fit ; by fending forth his Spirit, who worketh In every one ac- cording as he willeth. Thus we find the divine power exerted and put forth on e- very oc canon ; which we will not ftand particularly to inftance. And the nearer any creature is brought to God, the fountain of life, the more nearly doth that creature par- take of his Spirit, and confequently of all the powers of life : and perhaps it will be found, that life, and all the powers of it, are more properly the agency of the divine Spirit than of the man himfelf. But this mud not be extended to dead