innocent as doves, or without horns as doves ngao;* a sheep is an useful, profitable creature, nothing not useful in it; the flesh, the wool, the very dung thereof profitable. So are the sheep of Christ, and his sheep hear his voice, but know not the voice of a stranger; and if you be in your life harmless, profitable, hearing the voice of Christ in the gospel, then are you his sheep, and he did die for you. If you can leave the bosom of your sweet relations, and suffer for Christ, then did he leave the bosom of his Father, and suffer for you; for we love him because he loved us first, all our grace is but the reflection of his. If he intercedes for you in heaven, then he died for you on earth; now he ever liveth to make intercession for all those that come unto God by him; you come unto God by him, therefore he goes unto God for you, and therefore died for you. He died to reconcile God to us, and us unto God; if you be reconciled to God, and the things of God, so as you do now love the truths, ways, and things of God which you once hated, then is God also reconciled to you. Now thus it is with you; you can say, through grace I do love those truths, and ways, and things of God which I once hated; therefore you are reconciled to God, therefore he is reconciled to you, and therefore Christ died for you. If you can fulfil the law of Christ, then hath Christ died for you; for those that he died for, he satisfied and fulfilled the law for; and if you can fulfil his law, you may safely say he hath obeyed and fulfilled the law for me; now the law of Christ is to bear one another's burdens: "Bear ye one another's burdens," saith the apostle, "and so fulfil the law of Christ," this you do and can do; therefore he hath fulfilled the law for you, and so hath died for you. If you be the seed and children of Christ, then demitte nobis debita nostra, neque orat ut accepiat mandatum sed plane orat ut faciat mandatum.-Concil. Milevetan. Epist. Familiaris, B. in.

Et hoc a Deo ipso datum est vobis ut non solum credendo credatis in ipsum Christum.-Fabr. Boderian.

Et hoc a Deo ipso datum est vobis ut non solum credendo credatis in Meschicho,–Quiodmanst.

.Versio Syriaci-אתיהבת לכון דלא בלחוד מהימבו תהימבוןבה מאשיחב

Concil. Arausican. 2 can. 5, 25. tin. lib. de Predest. Storu, cap. ii. tinian. Velasquez. in Locum.

Milevitan. ad Innocent. in Epist. 95. Aus

Ambros. Anselm. Comment. Vide JusVasquez. in 3 part. tom. i. q. 19, art. 4, c. 2. * Absque cornibus, translatio Græci vocabuli a placidis animalibus sumpta videtur, quæ natura nullis cornibus armavit ad depellendam injuriam aut si armavit cornibus ad id non utuntur.-Luc. Brugens. in Matt. x. 16.

did he travail and die for you; the children of Christ are such as are willing to be instructed by him, raidevur to instruct, comes from was a child, because it is the property of a child to be willing to be instructed; a child doth obey his father without whys and wherefores, merely because the father commands; his command is the child's reason, For my father bid me, &c., the child is contented with the father's carving, goes to school about its business, and leaves its provision to the father, living in dependance on him. Now thus it is with you; you do depend on Christ, leave your condition to him, and obey, and do, because Christ or God commands, and are willing to be instructed by him; surely therefore you are the seed of Christ, and therefore Christ died for you, even for you in particular; and therefore though the great effects of his death may yet be hidden from you, yet he shall obtain all his ends upon you in your justification, sanctification, consolation, salvation; for he hath merited all these at the hand of the Father, and the Father will surely give out what Christ hath purchased, for he is faithful; wherefore comfort yourselves in these things, oh all ye seed of the Lord.

SERMON III.

CHRIST IN TRAVAIL, AND THE CONTENTMENT WHICH HE DOTH AND SHALL FIND IN HIS ASSURANCE OF ISSUE.

"He shall see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied." ISAIAH

liii. 11.

HAVING spoken to the second branch of the doctrine, viz. Christ's assurance of issue and his sight thereof; the third branch now follows, which is, The contentment, delight, and satisfaction which he doth and shall find therein.*

Satisfaction or delight is nothing else but that sabbath or rest, which the soul finds in the fruition of the thing desired; and as the thing is less or more desired so the delight and

*Delectatio se habet in assectibus sicut ques naturalis in corporalibus est enim aliqua convenientia seu connaturalitas.-Aquin.

satisfaction in the fruition of it is less or more; now Christ did very much desire to see the fruit of his travail; "I thirst," said he on the cross, which is the strongest of desires; and what did he thirst after, but the salvation of mankind, the fruit and issue of his travail? "The bread of the labouring man is sweet," saith Solomon; and the word So here used for the travail of Christ, signifies such a toilsome labour, as the poor man doth exercise in the sweat of his brows to get his daily bread; it is much contentment and satisfaction which the thirsty man doth find in his drink, or the hungry man doth find in his meat or bread. Now the word raw here used, and translated satisfied, is the same that is used in Psalm cvii.: "The hungry he will satisfy with bread ;" and is it not a great satisfaction, delight, and contentment, which the woman finds in the sight of her child, which she hath had a sore travail for? Our Saviour tells us that "she forgets her labour and travail, for joy that a man-child is born into the world." Such a travail was that of Christ's sufferings, and such contentment doth and will he find in his issue; and therefore as Jacob said, "These are the children which God hath given me;" so doth Christ say, "Behold, I and the children which God hath given me," Heb. ii. Only ye know that the delight and contentment will be proportionable to the travail; the greater the conflict is, and the sorrow of it, the greater will the joy be in the conquest; and the lower Christ did descend in his sorrows and travails, the higher he will and shall ascend in his delights and satisfactions. Now when he suffered, he did conflict with the wrath of God, and did endure the torments of hell. Surely therefore, as he did lie low in his sufferings, so his heart doth and shall arise to the highest contentment and satisfaction in the sight and fruition of the fruit of his travail.

But wherein doth or did Christ express this height and greatness of contentment in the sight of his issue?

The issue of his travail is either that which he travailed with, namely, his seed; or that which he travailed for, namely, the fruit and effect of his death.

I. As for the issue that he travailed with, his seed.

* Quanto majus erat periculum in prelio tanto majus erit gaudium in triumpho.-Austin.

Is it not a great expression of delight and contentment in them, to suffer such hard things for them; will a man suffer an ordinary death for another whom he doth not delight much in? It is an argument of the martyrs' delight in and love to Christ, that they suffered such hard things for him with delight.* Oh, said one, suffering for Christ, I am in heaven already, before I come in heaven; I have so much joy in my prison, that I have found a nest of honey in the lion's body. Some sung in their prison, and some clapped their hands in the flames. Why? Why? But to shew their delight and great contentment which they did find in Christ; and did their cheerful suffering for Christ argue their satisfaction in him; and doth not Christ's cheerful suffering for them argue his contentment in them? "I delight to do thy will, thy law is within my heart;" said he when he came to this suffering work, yea, now this is my hour, "The hour of the Son of man ;" and again, when he went out to suffer, "Now," said he, "is the Son of man glorified." Surely he could never have borne those sufferings with such delight, if he had not great delight and contentment in those whom he suffered for.

Is it not an argument of great delight and contentment in his seed, that he doth draw them into communion and fellowship with him in his royal dignities? I do not say, that the saints are by Christ, deified, Christed, or that they are made Christs like him; there are some excellencies and prerogatives of Christ, which are not communicated; for though we are made partakers of the divine nature, yet our nature was never manifested in the Godhead. God was incarnate, and manifested in the flesh; and so Christ is truly called man, for the Word was made flesh, but flesh was not made the Word, nor was flesh manifested in the Godhead; and therefore man cannnot be called God or Christ.† But though the seed of Christ are not drawn into this fel

* Amasti me Domine plusquam te, quia mori voluisti pro me.-Austin. † Humana natura nunquam per se seorsim existebat neque habuit in se rationem personæ, atque adeo non potest proprie dici assumpsisse divinam naturam aut personam, sicut divina natura et persona dicitur assumpsisse humanum, neque potest humana natura tam proprie dici deificata, quem admodum divina natura et persona dicitur incarnata legimus enim Deum manifestatum fuisse et visibilem factum fuisse in carne, id est in humana natura, et eodem sensu legimus sermonem factum esse carnem, 1 John xiv., sed nusquam legimus carnem

lowship with him, yet he hath taken them into communion with him, in his blessed unctions, therein they are called partners, μeloxovs Heb. i., "He hath anointed him with the oil of gladness above his fellows" or partners. Is he the anointed of the Lord? So are they said to be anointed, "Touch not mine anointed." Is he called a Prophet? So are they called prophets, and "do my prophets no harm,” Psa. cv. Is he called a King and a Priest? So are they called also a royal priesthood, 1 Peter ii. 9; kings and priests unto God, Rev. v. 10. Is he called Hephribo in whom I am delighted, Matt. iii., or my delight in him? So are they called Hephribah, in which I am delighted, or my delight in her, Isa. lxii. 4.* Now what greater argument of true delight and contentment can there be, than thus to draw them into this communion and fellowship with himself?

Is it not a high expression of his love and delight, to have communion with them in all their sufferings? Thus it is, they have communion with him in his comforts, and he hath communion with them in their sorrows; once he bare the curse of their sin for them, and now he bears the cross of their sin with them; they have cedar-wood and gold and silver from him, he hath dirty cities from them,† “In all their afflictions he was afflicted," Isa. lxiii. 9; and as a tender wife is afflicted with her husband, and doth run up and down for him; so doth Christ also, and therefore if ye look into Cant. vii. 10. ye shall find, that when the spouse saith, “I am my beloved's, and his desire is towards me:" it is the

aut huminam naturam esse invisibilem factum in Deo, aut carnem factum esse Deum.-Ames. Sciagraph. domin. 6.

* Omnes qui vera fide in Christum recumbunt participes fiunt suo modula dignitatis Christi.

Participes sunt aliquo functionis propheticæ quatenus spiritum Christi habent quo docentur de omnibus, 1 John i. 27, functionis et dignitatis sacerdotalis quatenus datur illis offerre sacrificia oblationes, et semetipsos Deo, Rom. xii. Regiæ dignitatis fiunt participes in quantum dominum habens per Dei gratiam in seipsus.-Ames. Sciag. p. 69.

+ Quod servus aliquis seu mancipium agere solet pro suo Domino, idem fecit servator pro nobis hominibus, ut enim ille tota die laborat in commodum sui Domini, ita ut quicquid lucretur id cedat suo Domino, sibi autem nihil preter membra totumque corpus lassum et defatigatum reservat sic et Christus noster ipse laboravit, ad nos autem merces laboris reddit hoc est pro nobis laboravit.— Granatens. Compend. Catech. maj. lib. 3, de red. mysterio.