Serm:I.XXXV. in the Redemption of Mankind. 6 i tho' they didfee, yet wouldnot fee, Chrift the Wifdomof Goddid fo order the Bu- finefs of his Miracles, to make them Human Ways of winning upon them , for they were generally fuch as were beneficial, he healed all manner of Difeafes and Maladies by this Miraculous Power ; and fo his Miracles did not only tend tò confirm his Do&rine, as they were Miracles, but to make way for Entertainment of it, as they were Benefits ; this was a fenfible Demonftration to them that he intendedthem good, becaufe he did them good ; they wouldeafily believe'; that he who healed their Bodies would not harm their Souls. This for his Life. HI. His Death, 'which was the, loweft Step of his Humiliation, and the Con- fummation of his Sufferings. Now the Death of Chrift did eminently contri- bute to this Defign of our Redemption. The Death of Chrift did not only expiate the Guilt of Sin, and pacify Confcience, by making plenary Satisfac`Iiori to the Divine Juftice ; but did eminently contribute to the killingof Sin in us, Rom. 6. 6. Knowing this, that our old Man is crucified with him, that the body of fin might be deifroyed, that henceforth we might not ferve fn. Rom. 8. 3. Godfend- ing his own Son in the likenefs of frnfulflefh, andfor fin ( that is, by being a Sacri- fice for Sin) condemnedfin in the flefh. The Death of Chrift convincethSin td be a great Evil ; and doth condemn it , becaufe the impartial Juftice of' God did fo feverely punifh it in his own Son, when he appeared in the Perfon of a Sin- ner ; and this is the molt powerful Argument to us to crucify Sin , that it cruci- fied our Saviour. That fo Innocent and Holy a Perfon fhould fufer fo cruel and ignominious a Death for our Sins, fhould fet us for ever againft it, and make us hate it with a perfe& Hatred. The Circumftances of Chrift's Sufferings are with admirable Wifdom fitted for the conquering of Sin and Satan. Sin came by the Woman : The Seed of the Woman fuffers for Sin, and by fuffering conquers it. Sin began in the Gar- den : And there our Saviour began his Sufferings for Sin. Sin came by the Tree : And Chrift bears the Curfe of it in hanging upon the Tree, and crucifies it by his Crois. And as he conquer'd Sin, fo he overcame Satan by his own Arts. The Devil found Chrift in the Likenefs of a Man, he judged him Mortal, and his great De- fign was to procurehis Death, and get him ,into his Grave. Chrift permits him to bring about his Defign, he lets him enter into yua'as, he lets the yews crucify, and put him into his Grave, and roll a great Stone upon it: But here his Divine Wifdom appears, in ruining the Devil by his own Defign, and fnaring him in the works of his own hands. Heb. z.`14. By death he deftroys him, that had the power of death, that is the Devil. I know the Sufferings of Chrift were, by the wife of the World, made the great Obje&ion againft the Wifdom of this Difpenfation ; the Crofs of Chrifl was to the Greeksfoolifhnefs : And yet the wifefl of them had determined otherwife in gene- ral, tho not in this particular Cafe. Plato (in the fecond Book of his Common- wealth) faith, " That a Man may be a pet-fed Pattern of Juftice and Righteouf- " nefs, and be approved by God and Men, he muff be tiripp'd of all the Things " of this World, he muff be poor and difgraced, and be accounted a wicked and "unjuft Man, he muff be whipp'd, and tormented, and crucified. as a Malefa- " &tor "; Which is, as it were, a prophetical Defcription of our Saviour's Suf- ferings. And Arrian, in his Epiff. defcribing a Man fit to reform the World, whom he calls the Apoftle, the Meffenger, the Preacher and Minifter of God, faith, " He muff be without Houle and Harbour, and worldly Accommodations ; " muff be armed with fuch Patience for the greateft Sufferings, as if he were a " Stone, and devoid of Senfe ; he muff be a Speétacleof Mifery and Contempt " to the World. " So that by the Acknowledgment of thefe two wife Heathens, there was nothing in the Sufferings of Chrift that was unbecoming the Wifdom of God, and improper to the End and Defign of Chrift's coming into the World; betides that they ferved a further end, which they did not dream,of , thefatisfy- ing of Divine yuftice. Secondly His Exaltation. The feveral Parts of which, his Refarrea`lion, and Nnnn ,Afcen,-
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