i Ver.19. the x7th Chapter of St. JOHN. a8 Law, to redeem them that were under the Law, that we might receivethe adoption of Sons.. His Death was for us, Dan. 9.26. The Miff-Ms 'hall be cut of, but not fbr birxfelf Our Lord died, not for himfelf, but for his People. ICa. 53. 4, 5. Surely he bath born are Griefs, and carried our Sorrows. He was wounded for our Tranlgrefons, he was bra fd fer our Iniquities : the Chafiifiment of our Peace was upon him, and by his Stripes we are healed. He was made nothing for himfelf, but all things for us. Chriffs Merit for him - ielf is an unworthy Do &tine. Bellarmine faith, Chriffirs pneter ea bona qee fui{ labari- bus peperit, meruit etiam kbì corporis gloriam, 6 nomsnis exaftationem. But if Chrift were to merit for himfelf; his Obedience was not voluntary, but due; and what could he merit, which was not from his Conception due to him ? It is trtfe, Chrifk folaced his Humane Soul with the confideration of confequent Glory. Heb. 12.2.. For the Glory which was fit before him, he endured the Crof, and defpìfed Ilse Shame, and it fet down at the right Hand of the Throne of God. But we cannot thence infer a Merit. A Prince difguiCed in a Foreign Country, may folace himfelf with the Honour and Hap- pinefs he (hall enjoy at home. Phil. 2. 9. Wherefore God bath alfo highly exalted him. e.ta, Wherefore, noteth a Conlequent in order of Time Chrift was jefd to fuller, and then to enter into Glory, Luke 24. 26. if you fay, Chrift, as Man, was bound to be fubje &, as a reafonable Creature to God his Maker; as the Son of Abraham, he was comprehended in the Covenant made with that People. I Anfwer, (r.) If his Humane Nature was bound to be fulled, yet not his Perron; aioner font fuppofitoram. The Humane Nature was taken into his Perron, and the Divine Nature could do more to free the Humane Nature, than the Humane Nature to oblige the Perfon to Obedience. Chrift pleadeth his freedom as God's Son. Mat. 57. 26. If of Strangers, then are the Children free. (2.) The Humane Nature, as a Creature, was to be fubje& to God, and guided by him, as being an Inferior; but whether to a Law of God, is juftly doubted ; for the Law is given to meer Men for their weaknefs, for the infiruftion of Good, and re- ftraint of Bad ; and therefore his being fubje& to the Law, was voluntary, and not neceffary : if it were neceffary, there could be no merit in it. Luke i 7.10. So likewife In, when ye (ball have done all thofe things which are commanded you, fay, We are unprofi- table Servants; we have done that which was our Duty to do. Again, (3.) Chrift voluntarily brought himfelf into this condition meetly for our Cakes; as a Man that removeth his Dwelling into another Country for his Friends rake; while he is in that Country, he is bound by the Laws of ir, but meetly for his Friends fake. Or, as a Surety, free before, when he cometh into Bonds, he mull difcharge the Debt ; but all is for his Friend's fake. So Chrift was made under the Law, Gal. 4.4. He that makes himfelf a Servant to free his Friend, is bound to Service; yet his making himfelf a Servant is meritorious. In fhort, if Chrift had done ought for him- felf, he had been his own Redeemer, Mediator, and Saviour. Chrift 'came into the World, fan&ified his Nature, lived and died for our fakes; it is for our benefit and behoof, to effe& our Salvation. His Humane Nature needed nothing, but what might accrue to him by the Dignity of his Perron. 2. Pofitively ; for their fakes. The Apoftles are chiefly concerned in the Context,, who were fent into the World upon a peculiar Meffage and Errand ; but all the EleI are intended, partly, becaufe it is prefently added, Nerf 20. Neither pray I for theft a- lone, but for all that 'ball believe in me through their Word : partly, becaufe it is a com- mon Benefit, and what doth not concern the Apoftles as Apofiles, but is common to them with others, mull be extended to all; for their fakes he doth wholly confecrate himfelf, and fet himfelf apart for his Peoples Benefit, that he might be theirs; it was for their Weal, not for his own, that he might be their Mediator and Sacrifice. Chriet was wholly fen apart for our life; as Mediator, he had no otter Work and Employ- ment, but to procure our Salvation. How doth this engage us to make use of Chrift, for otherwife his Undertaking is in vain, if we do not improve him for theft Ends and Purpofes for which he doth fet apart himfelf: even as the Sun would (bine in vain, if we did (hut up our felves in a dark place, and did not enjoy the Light arid Comfort of it : and the Brazen Serpent would in vain be lifted up upon the Pearch and Pole, if none that were flung would look upon it. Oh let not Cbrifl be a Chrift in vain 1 2 Cor. 6. r. We then, as workers together with* him, befeech ,00e, that you receive not the Grace of God in vain. If he wholly gave up himfelf to be a Fountain of Grace, O000 Holinefs,
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